Just One Moment
by Xana Vlec
Summary: "The scepter brings truth. It allows us to see both sides of the argument, but it's up to us and only us to decide what is right and what is wrong. You have to decide what you believe now." Loki said serenely. What will Clint do? Will he leave SHIELD to fight with Loki for "peace" or will he cling onto the memories of yesterday and search to find what is "right"? BlackHawk
1. Upside Down

Funny how just in one moment  
Everything could be turned upside down  
Wish I could turn back time  
to when you were still around  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Footsteps echoed in the night. The two men stood on the rooftop. One leaned over the railing to stare across the water. The other stood quietly behind before whispering, "Hello."

The one on the railing let out a sigh and watched as his breath froze in the air. There wasn't any dignified response to give at this point. Not when there were only twenty minutes left. All that his ears heard was the tick tock tick tock of his mind's clock. Time was slipping away now and he wouldn't be able to grab it back.

The second man gripped the metal rod in his hand tightly. "This is what you humans call the end isn't it? What do you believe will happen when you pass on?" His raspy voice betrayed the slight emotion that quivered in his stony heart. Despite what all may have thought, he was no murderer. It was why he took prisoners rather than killing off for mere sport.

"Not quite sure. Twenty years ago I would have said I'd go to heaven. Now I'm not so sure." Clint gripped the railing tightly between his hands. "It's too red now. I'd like to think I'd go to heaven, but all that's waiting for me is hell." Cars passed underneath the building going along their way. None of them even suspected that they were being watched. People always were like that weren't they? One day everything was fine, the next it all fell apart.

"You changed that as well, you know? Before I was able to blind myself to say I was a part of 'the good side'. Is there even such a thing anymore?" Clint gave a choked laugh. "But now I don't know what I am. It's all a blur. I can't even convince myself that one side is good anymore." His eyes trailed back to the man behind him. The Asgardean prince stood there with a sympathetic look on his face.

"The scepter brings truth. It allows us to see both sides of the argument, but it's up to us and only us to decide what is right and what is wrong. You have to decide what you believe now." Loki replied serenely. He stepped up to the buildings edge and let the wind run through his wispy hair.

"What will you do? Will you join me for the war, the final war?" Loki finally posed the question. Surprisingly, Clint didn't immediately reject the idea. He didn't even reject the presence of the man that had done so much to harm him. Instead a forlorn look entered his eyes. The final war, was it? It sounded strangely like the war to end all wars and history only told what had happened with that.

Clint stared at his callused hands in thought. He could join the man. The idea didn't entirely revile him. A part of him was mistrustful of the so called god. The control the staff had over him had been lifted, but Loki obviously wasn't averse to using it. "Take your time to think about it. I'll return to talk to you later." Loki pushed off the railing and headed back towards the building. He lifted his staff into the air before slamming the hilt on the ground.

A swirling blue portal opened before him. Loki cast one last look back at Clint before stepping into the vortex and leaving the hawk alone once more. Clint let out a sharp exhale as he stared out over the city. The flashing lights of the night life danced before his eyes. The world just kept on swirling by with or without him.

"Agent Barton, are you there?" Agent Coulson's voice sounded in his earpiece reminding him of one of the reasons he didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. They were a manipulative bunch. From long before Coulson's supposed death, they had already planned for something of the sort to happen. That was why the little group was called the Avengers after all. What else was there to avenge? The world hadn't even been lost yet so there was nothing gone.

Clint chuckled silently. He clearly wasn't important enough to avenge. Even Tony and Natasha hadn't felt strongly enough for him to work past their differences. He was really worth that little.

"I'm here, Coulson. What is it?" Hawkeye turned away from the city and began the slow descent down the coiling staircase. They wouldn't ever call him unless they needed him for duty. It was a silent understanding between them.

"We just got a transmission from Thor. Loki has escaped from Asgard. We're gathering the Avengers back up to deal with the threat. We don't know what he wants yet so stay on your guard." His partner's worried voice communicated a lot to Clint. Coulson was afraid that he'd be attacked by Loki again since he was the weak link.

"Ah. I know." Clint responded without even thinking. Only moments later did he realize his mistake.

"What? How do you know this? We only received the communication a few minutes ago. Oh no... You haven't met with him already have you? What were you thinking, Barton? Get over here. Now." It was strange hearing Coulson commanding him to do anything. Normally the complacent man asked and people did as he wanted because he was friendly. It was a darker side Clint wasn't sure that he liked.

"I'll be there soon." Clint replied.

"I mean now, Hawkeye." Clint flinched. Whenever Coulson referred to him as Hawkeye it meant that he was mad. It was the same thing when Natasha called him by his full name. It made him not want to head back to the hovercraft just yet. A frown creased the man's face. He'd have to face it eventually though and stewing over it wouldn't help.

Clint stepped down the last step and headed towards the exit of the tower. He turned the handle and walked out into the busy streets. "Duly noted. It should take me fifteen minutes tops to return." Clint quickly merged into the crowd as he snaked his way through the streets.

The thing about crowds was how they always had a flow. People naturally moved to keep the flow of people moving strongly. You just had to figure out which currents were strongest and run with them. Clint headed straight into the fray and tracked after a bustling hoard of college students.

In a few minutes he split away from the group and headed down towards the pier. It didn't take as much energy to keep afloat so unless they were in emergency procedures, the hovercraft was stationed on the water.

He ran in and out of the flickering lights until he reached the waterside. His eyes lit with confusion as he saw four armed patrols standing outside the hatch. It wasn't peculiar to see one or two patrols, but four was something special. Were they expecting an attack of some sort?

He stepped out into the wooden dock and ambled slowly towards them. He saw the guards whispering amongst themselves before one of them cocked his gun and aimed it at Clint. Clint stopped abruptly as he stared at the muzzle of the gun. "What do you think you're doing?" He demanded coldly, "It's Barton."

"That's exactly why I'm doing this, sir." The man replied hesitantly. It almost sounded as if he was afraid of the hawk. "I'm under orders to have you contained upon sight, sir. Please don't resist." The black clad soldier stepped towards Clint with his finger on the trigger.

"I demand to know why I'm being... _arrested_." The word sounded vile on his tongue. If he was asked to explain why he thought it sounded disgusting, he wouldn't be able to say. It was just a negative term, wasn't it?

"For being under suspicion of working with Loki in his escape from Asgard." The man replied solemnly. He seemed to be gaining confidence as he approached the 'hero'.

"You've got to be joking." Clint said with a frown. What was he supposed to do now? Let himself be tossed in jail for who knew how long for them to perform psych evaluations? After going through nearly six months of psychological rehabilitation, Clint was not excited for more.

If he ran it would be like confirming his guilt, but he was the hawk. Birds weren't meant to be caged up in boxes. They were supposed to be free. He was not going to get his wings clipped. Not now, not ever.

"Do I look like the joking type?" The man replied calmly. He stepped towards Clint with his gun raised and said, "Hold still."

The man slowly neared and thoughts cycled quickly through Clint's head. He had to make a choice soon. Different scenarios ran through his mind as he sorted through all the possibilities of what he could do. There were just too many scenarios and too many outcomes; no logical choice was in sight. Screw it, he wasn't going to get captured. Not by S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone no matter how ever so _kindly_ they put it.

As the muzzle neared him, Clint grabbed it and swung it out of the soldier's grasp. Guns weren't exactly his style, but it would have to do for now. His fingers curled around the slightly warm metal as he pulled the trigger.

All S.H.I.E.L.D. units were equipped with the same basic protection gear. Bullet proof vests, fake blood pouches to give the appearance of a mortal wound, ect. What really mattered was Clint knew that none of them would die if he fired. He'd just be buying himself a bit of time that was all. Right?

Bullets whizzed over his head as he dropped to the ground. The wood creaked beneath the sudden pressure as he rolled off to the side. He felt the ground drop beneath him as he tumbled down into the water. He held his breath as he submerged himself. His eyes burned as he looked around for where to go.

Shots entered the water and Clint knew he had to make a choice and go with it. He let the gun drop out of his hands and descend into the water as he swamp underneath the pier. Forty seconds had now passed. It already seemed like a lifetime. Air filled his lungs as he finally pulled up from the salty water. He bobbed underneath the wood and shook the water out of his ears.

"Shoot. I guess they were right. Call Fury. He's going to need to know about this. Ugh." The voice of the same soldier that had just fired at him a moment ago sounded just above him. So did this mean he was on the run now? Dang that wasn't good.

**EDIT: If you are reading this, note that I decided to go back to the beginning of the story and fix mistakes in my character. My speedy writing made me realize that important character traits were not present in all chapters so I went back to fix them all. If you are a previous reader and you see this: I will be continuing to update this story, but it will be slower because I want to fix all the previous chapters before I go full speed ahead. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Handle This Differently

And all I've got left is memories  
of your face smiling at me  
You use to say that we should all just  
handle this differently

**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Wet hands clung to the wooden pillars protruding from the water. Clint heaved restlessly as he regained his energy. His blue eyes searched around before catching sight of a sewer entrance only a few yards away. His fingers released from their little divots in the damp wood before he pushing off the pillar and towards the drainage.

Water streamed out behind him as he swam over towards the grate. He latched onto the rusty metal and pulled himself onto the small ledge afforded him. A hand covered his mouth to try and keep out the stench that came from the water running past his feet. He felt around his back for his quiver and pressed a button on the side that released the arrows. A click told him that now his arrows were ready for extraction.

He slipped out one of the shaft and gripped it tightly in his fist. The edge of the arrow slowly sawed through the weakened metal until finally enough of the grating was broken. Clint dropped the arrow back into his quiver and clicked the fastener back on. Assured that his arrows were all back in their compartments, Clint grabbed the rusty sheet and tore it away from its place.

He tossed the metal behind him and into the ocean where it landed with a soft splash. His eyes searched the sewers for a moment before he gave a sigh. He'd just have to walk right through. Clint grabbed the thin metal sheets that worked to seal the tunnel as he pulled himself in.

His eyes watered at the disgusting smell. Hopefully he wouldn't have to spend too long down here. Using the makeshift handlebars, he quickly made his way through the tunnels. He tread softly as the sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the tunnels. A single sound could be heard from a fair distance away.

"Agent Barton, what do you think are you doing?" The voice nearly made him slip into the grime that rushed past his feet. For a moment he looked around wildly and tried to find the source of the sound until he realized that he had never thrown away his comm link. He nearly groaned aloud. The screwy thing had a GPS attached to it!

"Getting myself out of taking another pysch analysis, Commander Fury. But with all due respect, I don't think I want to talk to you anymore. Agent Barton out." Clint jerked the small device out of his ear and crushed it in his palm. He smashed each of the bits until it clearly was no longer even vaguely reminiscent of a communicator. The pieces fell to the floor and were washed away in the stream.

He sighed. This was really it now. He'd shot at a S.H.I.E.L.D. unit and he just broke contact with Fury and he destroyed his GPS. The _hero_ Hawkeye was nothing more than an escapee now. But for some reason he could find it in him to blame the Asgardean. Instead a fire burned in his heart over S.H.I.E.L.D.

How quickly they had decided to throw him beneath the bus. It only took a few minutes and they already had armed guards out to capture him. What did they call themselves, his friends, his allies? They were nothing of the sort. A friend would have trusted him enough to look at him before sending armed squads.

The facts rolled through his head as he sorted everything neatly in his mind. Everything was clearly aligned so that S.H.I.E.L.D. was out to get him. The next agent he faced he would have to shoot to kill or at the very least, to disarm. The thought wasn't particularly worrying to him. Instead he accepted it as a_ truth. _ They were now on the opposite side. He didn't particularly consider them enemies, but at the very least they were no longer on the same side. He supposed that it was a bit like how Switzerland was in the second world war. Shoot down everyone that comes near to stay neutral. Except for the fact there was no way he was remotely neutral.

He slushed his way through the tunnel until he heard a faint sound in the distance: the sound of feet running through water. "Shoot." They'd kept track on his GPS long enough to figure out he was in the sewers. Chances were they didn't just send the average military unit after him either.

Ignoring the sound he would make, Hawkeye bolted off down the tunnels. Shouts of recognition came from behind him as the deployment made chase. Ahead a more fortified series of sewers ran with small walkways along the sides. Clint leaped up onto the concrete base and shot down the sidewalk. His shoes squished with every step he took and blackened foot marks trailed behind him. He wouldn't be able to hide this way.

"Clint!" A voice called out from behind him. He didn't have to turn out to know whose voice that was. It was a voice he'd grown close to over the past few years. The red-headed woman called out for him again, but her cries met deaf ears. No matter how alluring her voice was, she'd still lead him back to that place. And now that he had run once, the punishment would be worse than if he had never run at all.

His breathing was surprisingly relaxed considering his situation. Perhaps it was because he'd done something like this a year ago. Was he a traitor from the start?

A small explosion sounded ahead of him as a manhole cover went hurtling down from above. Clint skidded to a stop as a figure clad in yellow and red floating down from the ceiling. Clint cussed in annoyance and turned to jump to the other side of the sewer. He drop rolled on the other side before forcing himself up to continue running.

"Woooah, not so fast, Legolas." Iron Man said as he propelled himself in front of the fleeing man.

Clint felt cornered. Black Widow jumped to join him on the other side and now he was trapped on both sides. He grunted in annoyance as the two slowly approached him.

"What do you think you're doing, Clint?" Natasha asked. It wasn't much of a question. It was a demand for answers. It was easy to tell by the way she held her gun up towards his head. He'd stared down enough gun muzzles to figure out when people were aiming for headshots. He could tell that she was more reluctant than Tony by the small frown that crested her face. She was on a mission though and despite the small waver in her arms, Clint had no doubt that she'd fire if she had to. The thought troubled him deeply.

"I think I'm trying to avoid being caught and psychologically tortured." Clint said curtly. His eyes darted wildly around the sewers trying to look for a way to escape. He saw none. Tony's suit allowed him to dive underwater, so he couldn't be short circuited. Heck, the man could fly. He could move around faster than Clint would ever be able to run.

Every second he waited, Natasha took a step closer. He had to move and he had to move now. His hand flew back to his quiver and he snapped the latch open. A few things happened at that moment. One, Natasha fired at him. Two, Iron Man activated his thrusters. Three, Clint pulled an explosive arrow out of its sheath and jammed it into the wall behind him.

Hawkeye dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms. Just as the bullet whizzed over his head, the arrow detonated. The blast wasn't strong by any means, but it was enough to send his two assailants back a few feet and punch a large hole in the weak walls. Chunks of the roof crumbled down as he rushed through the gap left open to him.

Pain echoed in his back from the blast. Just because he was the one who caused it didn't mean that he wouldn't get hurt by it as well. He felt the slimy drip of blood in his uniform and knew that he had to be bleeding. It was probably a piece of concrete from the wall that embedded in his uniform. There was no time to take it out now though. He'd have to survive with the pain for a while longer.

His hand gripped his black bow and pulled it out of its holder. He flipped it open and it snapped into gear. It was one of the few things he could trust to always be on his side in this world. A sound of a gun firing came from behind him and he instinctively dropped as a bullet soared over him and embedded itself in the wall in front of him.

Seven and a half seconds. That was all the time he had bought himself. It wouldn't be enough to climb out into the surface streets even if he found a ladder up. He fingered his quiver behind him. The feathers on the back of his arrows separated what time of arrow they were.

He felt the ridged feel of his tear gas arrow and slipped it out. One of the handy things about a moving chase was that he didn't have to turn around to fire. He nocked the arrow in his bow and fired it just behind him on the ground. The tip cracked open against the ground and hissed as the gas poured out from the metal container.

He heard Natasha yell from behind him as she hit the layer of gas. The faintly familiar squirming in his chest appeared again as he heard her cry out. Was that guilt? He hadn't felt it in so long it was hard to say. "Don't forget about me, bird boy." Clint's eyes widened as he looked towards the voice. Iron Man's mask looked towards him. He had forgotten about the eye covers the mask gave Tony! The gas wouldn't affect him at all since there was even a ruddy filter for the air!

"Sorry, dude. But it's gotta be done." A rock hard fist connected to Clint's side. He was sent tumbling through the air before he smacked against the wall. All the air left his chest as he sagged against the concrete. He reached behind him to grab an arrow from his quiver, but a hand grabbed his fist before it reached its goal.

"It's over, Barton. Give up." Tony's voice sounded so mechanized through the synthesizer. Clint glared up at the man wearily as he wheezed for his breath.

"Did you forget? I'm not the kind of guy that gives up. " He smirked slightly before coughing shakily. In the corners of his mind, a voice hissed telling him that weakness was bad and that he should be protesting. His hand quivered weakly from the sudden pressure on it as he tried to move, but to no avail.

Tony sighed from within his mask. He used his other hand to grab Clint's head. He murmured a quick apology before slamming the man's head against the wall. A loud crack was heard as the blonde fell unconscious.

Black Widow stumbled out of the tear gas cloud and wandered up closer to Iron Man. She wiped her eyes to clear the tears and looked at her fallen partner. For a moment she was glad that he had fired the tear gas at her. It made the real tears and the gas tears harder to distinguish.

"Oh Clint... What have you done now?"

**Forgive me if Black Widow isn't as warlike as you'd like. ;3; I love her too, but I'm working on her. By the way, this story is BlackHawk. I should mention that in the summary shouldn't I... Oops. Anyhawk, I'll try to update either once a day or every other day at 9pm NST. **

**Thanks to all of you that put this story on alerts and favorites! I really appreciate it! **

**Edit: 2 chapters done! When I get to the later chapters it'll be more than just a few word edits. I may have to delete chapters at that point and I apologize if I have to do that. I don't feel comfortable with how my chapters turned out later in the story and I want to make them as good as possible before I continue! **


	3. Be Our Hero

Took us all by surprise  
No, we never saw this coming  
Always were, always will be our hero  
With no warning sign one day they came and  
They took you away  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Dang his head hurt. Clint awoke to a swirl of grays and whites dancing in his vision. The feeling was eerily reminiscent of his imprisonment in Venice a few years ago. He had woken up with an awful headache back then as well. He scrunched his eyes close and forced them open again to clear his head. Dim light flickered through the grated windows as he slowly began to take in his surroundings. He looked at the bars in confusion before he remembered what had happened.

He groaned and leaned back into the stone wall behind him. That was when he realized his mobility was restricted. His arms were pinned above his head by chains dangling from the top of the ceiling. He looked at the pieces of metal and the first thought to cross his mind was the fact that he could probably strangle himself if it came to that. It was the pessimist in him that normally came out when he was captured. If a person thought they were at risk for spilling information then they were conventionally ordered to find a way to commit suicide.

Clint's ears caught the mechanical whirring of a camera focusing in on him and he glanced around the room. The barren place was completely empty save for a small hole in the wall in the corner just beside the door. His eyes sharpened as they stared at the small hole. In a few moments he saw a small flash as the lens rotated to get a better view.

Clint blinked before rolling his eyes as the camera. It would do him no good to look worried in a situation like this. He had to act calm. But at least this would give him time to stew over this mess.

He was practically a convicted villain now. He'd definitely done enough to deserve a sentence. A pit welled up in his throat. He'd been on the opposite side of the law often enough to know that he didn't want to be there. It was too late for that though. Did this mean he was on Loki's side? Being against S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't automatically mean that he was with Loki though they would assume it, but... Would it be wise to join up with Loki especially now that all of this had happened? His priority would be to protect himself and to ensure his freedom. If being with Loki would get him to that point would it be a bad thing? After all, sacrifice is needed for any great gains to be made.

He tapped his head lightly against the wall as he rocked back and forth. Loki... It was difficult to think about the man. His real power came from his words, not his staff. Was he just sweet talking when he offered him that proposal?

The final war... So many things could be taken from it. It was almost like World War II all over again. Yet it would be different this time. They'd have a different arsenal, but also different opponents? The goal would be the same, but would the desire be different? World War II had happened in a desire to take over the world and to purify it from all the evil upon the earth. It was a racist act in its purest form, but that couldn't be said to be the same about Loki. The Asgardean was moving without consent of Odin so it could not be something like that. Did that fact make it different? In fact, was different good or bad?

He remembered a year ago the fact that he had always associated Loki with evil. In fact, he had associated World War II and Hitler as evil. Now when he heard the names he felt nothing. It disturbed him. Shouldn't he have felt something instead of this blankness? There had to be a good and an evil, but now there was nothing in his mind. Instead there were only facts and data stating how things worked and how things had happened. There was no emotion put into it anymore. It worried him. He felt as if he should dislike Loki, but he wasn't sure why he should or even if he was evil in the first place.

Loki... He seemed different this time. There was no referencing of world domination or having an alien army. Was he really doing this on his own now? Would that make him more selfish than ever or would that make him good? Clint hadn't talked to the man enough to be able to tell.

A hissing sound escaped the door as the door's many locks eased their way open. Clint's head whipped around to stare at the jets of steam coming from the doors. After a few moments, the hatch opened and a familiar face stepped through the haze.

"Nat..." Clint whispered softly. The woman gave Clint a sad look as she stepped into the room. Natasha hugged her arm tightly as she looked down at Clint compassionately. Sadness and compassion were not emotions that come often to the red-headed beauty, but when they did come, they came in a flurry. Compassion was a trait that most assassins had shed during their hundreds of assignments, but for Natasha that fact was all the more reason to keep the feeling near and dear to her heart. Compassion was what made her human and she wouldn't ever let go of it. After all, without emotions a person would be no more than a husk, a robot.

"What did you think you were doing, Clint? They were just beginning to trust you again too! They would have cleared you and that would have been that!" Black Widow stepped over to the wall and kneeled down so she'd be at eyelevel with her longtime friend. Her eyes were glazed with pain and Clint was once again sent back into his memories. He had often heard her say that even when a person is in pain; they are not the one that is hurting. The one that really hurts is the friend that is watching helplessly because they know they can do nothing.

Clint looked away from the woman and towards the ground. She had always been able to make him feel guilty and she certainly exercised her power now. He had not only caused her pain through his acts, but she was to bring him in to SHIELD as well. From the way she looked, she felt the guilt most acutely. While lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize that she had leaned forward to wrap him in a hug.

He almost willed her to stop because he knew his attachment to her would make it that much harder if he was going to leave with Loki. But... Perhaps he could afford a brief moment of indulgence. He leaned into her grasp and sighed. For a moment they just sat there and willed time to stop. But time stopped for no one. She pulled away from him with an expectant look on her face. She wanted an answer to her question.

"I had to, Nat. Because I knew something like this," Clint waved his arm around the meager distance he could stretch, "would happen. I've been 'brainwashed' by him before. They wouldn't trust me until the entire thing was over." He mentally rolled his eyes at brainwashed. It was the cover he ended up giving himself after being corrupted by Loki.

He wasn't dumb then. He knew what he was doing. He had just been convinced that it was the right thing to do. Loki's words were his most powerful weapon and he knew how to use them well. It wasn't only the charisma, but he fact he had the cold hard facts. In the battle of mind versus heart, mind had one and it dictated for him to join Loki's cause. It was only after he fought with Natasha that he knew he just couldn't do it anymore. Fighting against her was one of the hardest things he had to do and it appeared he'd have to do it one more time.

Natasha looked disappointed. "Is that the only excuse you can give me? Really, Clint? We'd protect you from him! It was pretty easy to tell last time that you were being manipulated. We wouldn't hurt you for it. I wouldn't let them hurt you in any case."

Clint wanted to yell at her that he wasn't being manipulated back them. The pain that had been welling up inside of his heart almost made him go into a panic. He'd watched plenty of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rot in the containment cells. He'd been the one to put them there and there was no way he could forget going down there. Years had still passed, but the same men where down there. It was down here, now. He was one of them. Perhaps the others were like him. So many choices he had taken were blinded by loyalty to one side. Loyalty was unfounded. Loyalty didn't have any basis to why one side was good or bad. Was this his blindness coming to haunt him? Was this the truth that Loki spoke about?

"Nat, I... There's no excuse that would satisfy so I'll just say I'm sorry." He stared at the ground intensely. He couldn't bring himself to look at her anymore with what he was going to do. The more he talked to her, the more it reaffirmed what he was going to do. While he hated to do this, to do this to her, he knew that he would have to do it. He silently thought another apology to Natasha, this one begging for forgiveness.

"You're one of the smartest people I know, Clint. Smarter than Stark if you believe that. But sometimes you do the stupidest things. It drives me insane sometimes." She gave a saddened smile as she stroked the side of his face. She cast her eyes over the man before whispering, "I have to go. I'll try to get full clearance into here, but I'm currently only being allowed in because they think I could work on you. We'll get you out though." She rested her head against his forehead as she spoke.

She willed him to understand what she was feeling before pulling away. She got up onto her feet and took a step back from the once proud Hawkeye. He almost seemed like a shadow of his former self. Where was the man that had went against his orders to bring her into S.H.I.E.L.D.? He seemed so far now, but he had to be in there somewhere, and Natasha was going to pull him out again no matter what it took.

"See you later, Clint."

She pulled away from him and left. Leaving Clint alone in the dark room once more.

**It's short, but I was pressed for time today. D: I'll double time it tomorrow and get out a longer one to make up for it. **

**Thanks to everyone who added me to alerts! It makes me happy to think that all the alerts are like mini votes of confidence in my writing. /swoons**

**Edit: Holy schnitzel! I added over 800 words to this chapter! Well that was a bit more than just an edit considering the chapter used to only be 1.2k words... More edits on the way!**


	4. Ones to Blame

Remember everything that you said  
That we could never fully trust them  
Wish I could say I disagree, but  
I know they're the ones to blame

**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Water lapped gently against the sides of the sea vessel. The vehicle rode deep into the water with its turbines tucked carefully beneath it. It was upon these turbines that a man was walking. A pale glow surrounded him as he ducked under the low roof of the container. Steel walls formed around him as he searched for an exit.

His eyes caught sight of a metal door near the ceiling. That would have to do. Stairs trailed down from the wall to lead up to the entrance to the S.H.I.E.L.D. craft. Loki walked calmly through the water as his Asgardean magic protected him from getting wet. He grabbed onto the cold metal ladder and begin the slow climb up. He was not the most athletic man and halfway up the ladder he began to feel winded. Perhaps it was because he was juggling his scepter along with climbing? The thing was a nuisance at times.

Finally he managed to reach the top where a small flat step allowed him to regain his footing. He twisted the handle clockwise and pushed open the door to the main ship. It had been surprisingly easy to enter S.H.I.E.L.D. without them noticing. All he had to do was carve a hole in the ship's hull before resealing it with his scepter. The thing wasn't only used for explosions after all.

From there on out he just had to swim past the turbines and find a way into the main station. They had to have a way in because someone cleaned the turbines once and awhile. Loki smoothed his ruffled hair back before peering out into the hall. It was still duty time he supposed. No one would be down at the mechanics section when nothing was going on. There would probably be some emergency at the hot cocoa machine in the cafeteria.

He slipped his way down the hallways without a sound. Not even a drop of water fell from him to make a single person suspicious. Fortunately for him, he had come into the vessel on the lower decks. That was exactly where he'd find his clipped bird.

To be honest, Loki felt a little bit guilty. He had known that Clint would get in trouble for associating with him, but he hadn't thought it would be so soon. Wouldn't the man try to hide the fact that he was talking to a known criminal? An assassin should have shown more restraint than that.

Loki sighed softly as he ambled down the hallways. "Hey you? What are you doing in here?" Loki blinked and turned around to see a man in black armor pointing a sub machine gun at him. All Loki could do was chuckle at the naive man. A gun harming a god? Was that a joke or something?

"I'm trying to find...A friend." Loki raised his scepter and pointed it at the man. A swirl of blue light surrounded the metal's tip before a bolt of energy flew at the soldier. He was hit full front in the chest and went hurtling back into the wall behind him, effectively knocking the man unconscious.

Loki blew on the tip of the smoldering metal. A whir of a camera lens met his ears and moments later red lights began flashing throughout the hallways. He had to pick up the pace.

Loki turned around to the door leading to the prison segment and tapped on it once. The second time his scepter tapped on it a blue fire spurted from its tip and cut right through the metal. It fizzled as it turned molten before making a huge gap for the Asgardean to step through.

"I love the smell of burning things in the morning." Loki said drolly before bending down to enter the prison block.

A soldier bolted up from his desk and fumbled for his gun. "S-stay back!" A man shouted at him warily while pointing the muzzle of his gun at him. The man couldn't have been a day older than thirty. No wonder he was so green.

"Reverse psychology, boy. Telling me to stay away makes me want to come closer." Loki quipped as he send another bolt of energy at the soldier. He didn't even need to watch as he heard the crack of bones. That was enough to tell him that the bolt had done its job.

"Now let me see... D6 was it? That means it's this way." He looked at the small map that was plastered on the wall before turning back to the fallen man. He looked at the form skeptically for a moment before carefully stepping over the hulk. It was gross to step on a dying man and he wasn't quite that cruel.

He hummed carelessly as he stepped past the throngs of prisoners. Men clung to the iron bars and begged to be let out. They offered servitude, money, women, absolutely nothing that Loki would want. He wanted someone with heart. Soulless men such as they had nothing to offer him in the world.

The numbers on the padlocks slowly grew higher until Loki found the room styles changed. Instead of mere iron keeping prisoners in their place, entire rooms made and sealed with expensive materials contained the prisoners. This was D bloc. The bloc where only the most dangerous prisoners resided. Loki raised an eyebrow. They considered Hawkeye that much of a threat? What a pity.

He walked up to the door labeled D6. The white metal reflected red as the warning slights swirled above him. He twirled his staff before stabbing the electronic system that kept the doors secure. It fizzled out as its energy was drained away in the scepter. Loki nodded in satisfaction before sticking his scepter deeper into the mechanism.

The broken machine lit up and numbers flew across the cracked screen. In a few moments a hissing sound came from the door as the bolts retracted themselves into the walls. Loki smiled wryly and stepped in front of the door to have it open for him. Technology was quite nice sometimes.

Inside the room, Loki's eyes caught sight of the defeated man hanging beside the wall. Loki exhaled sadly as he made his way over to the man and crouched in front of him. "Look at me, Barton." He tipped the man's head up towards him and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Have you thought about my... proposition more? In advance, yes, I do apologize for all of this. If you can, don't dawdle around your answer. Yes or no, I need to get out of here even if you decide not to come with me." Loki told the man. Things would be considerably easier for him to pull off if he had another he could trust to carry out his mission, but the scepter couldn't force a man to do anything he didn't want to.

"Ah. I have." Clint replied quietly. He sighed and closed his eyes once. When he opened them again his face was set and his choice was made. "Let's go."

"That's what I like to hear." Loki smirked haughtily before taking his hand away from under the bird's head. He grabbed his scepter in his other hand and fired two quick blasts to sever the chains around Hawkeye's wrists.

Clint rubbed his sore wrists as he got up from the ground. He leaned back against the stone wall for a moment before staring up at his new... companion. "Where is my quiver?" Walking without the familiar weight on his back felt so queer. The slick bow had been his constant companion for so long, he almost felt off balance walking without it.

Ah... Loki hadn't quite thought about that. The man tilted his head to the side in thought. "It will be either in the armory I assume. I don't believe we are quite prepared to take on all of S.H.I.E.L.D. to retrieve it though. With you using all of your fists and with them using probably my brother and his mad quartet. We can create copies later or come back for a later visit, for now we have to move."

Clint frowned slightly at that. He had gone through a lot with those weapons. Copies wouldn't quite be the same, but he also couldn't afford to be caught just yet. "Let's go then."

Loki nodded and turned towards the wall facing away from the rest of the vessel. He gripped his scepter tightly and let energy whirl around the tip before firing off towards the hull. A large explosion rocked the ship as a gap opened in the side. Water rushed into the room and Loki grabbed Clint by the arm before pulling him into the water.

Clint was about to protest, but then he realized there was now a dull glow surrounding the both of them. He opened his mouth slightly and expected to taste the salt water in his mouth, but instead he tasted air. It had to be one of those confounded things the scepter always did. Despite the fact that he had seen the scepter create explosions, reveal truth, and melt solid metal, it always seemed to surprise him. The phrase, 'With great power comes great responsibility' came to mind. For a moment Clint wondered if Loki saw the scepter as a responsibility.

Clint just rolled his eyes before he continued to paddle away from the airship. He cast one look bad at the empty hole in the side of the hull and thought quietly to himself. _I'm sorry, Nat. I'm getting out, but just not in the way you envisioned. Next time we meet I'm afraid we will no longer be on the same side. Forgive me. Goodbye._

He turned away from the ship and back towards the watery depths. This was just something he had to do.

**That went surprisingly well. :D I hope you all liked it!  
Thanks once again to my subscribers! I really appreciate it!**

**Edit: Not too many edits here. He was much more in character here than in earlier and later parts. Hopefully these edits wont take me too long if I go through about 3 a day. (:**


	5. Bring You Back

Destroyed every hope we once had  
Nothing we can do now  
That you're gone no way to bring you back  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Bubbles rose through the water as a large pocket of air was released from the submarine's hatch. The duo swam down into the small compartment Loki's eyes searched the room for a moment before catching sight of a red button near the submerged doorway. He swam towards it before pushing down on the button.

The circular door that had let them in snapped shut with a muffled boom. Clint looked around cautiously before he realized that water was draining out of the room. A vacuum swallowed away the water until finally Clint could stand with his head above water.

Loki's magic finally began to disperse slowly so that the parts of them that touched air wouldn't be surrounded by the clouding magic. Clint wormed his way free of Loki's grasp and took in the bits of air that were in the room. Fresh air from the deposits located on the sides of the submarine was funneled into the room to allow the two men to breathe. Loki smoothed his hair back calmly before stepping across the small mechanized room to a small door in the wall.

He gave the metal handle a sharp twist and pulled the door open. He looked back towards Clint with a slight smirk on his face and said, "Coming?" Clint gave no response and simply crouched down to walk into the next hallway. Submarines weren't particularly well known for being spacious and this one was no different. Clint was sure he would have a permanent crick in his neck because the small walkways that were about almost four inches too low for him.

The hallway let up into a wide room with dozens of people tapping away on their keyboards. Clint saw a few people talking animatedly through their headsets. From the brief moments that he got to look at them, he read the words: Plan Hatchling has succeeded. Confusion entered him for a moment before he realized they were probably referring to him. He was a plan now was he? He felt positively important.

"Barton, come over here and meet your new partners." Clint looked further to see Loki standing beside two adults. The woman had short sandy blonde hair that was pinned back behind her in a small pony tail. Her face was angular and gave her a stern appearance, but perhaps it was just Clint. After Natasha women had rapidly climbed up on the list of types of people to fear.

"This is Antoinette Leroy. She's been on our side for almost two years now." Catching Clint's skeptical look Loki explained. "You didn't think I just popped up on the face of the earth without previously making contact with people to find allies did you? I may be confident, but I'm not stupid."

Antoinette raised an eye brow at the Hawk before huffing. "We really broke into S.H.I.E.L.D. just for him? You could have at least brought back some weapon of mass destruction or something."

Loki shot a silencing glare at her before waving towards the black haired man. "This is Maxton Rorison. He's a companion that only came to our side a month ago, but he is well versed in what we do here now. If you have any questions you may ask him or Antoinette for advice."

The dark skinned man bowed at the waist before standing back up. "Yes, sir."

Loki turned to Clint with a wry smirk on his face, "Both of them already know all about you. I suggest you try to play catch up." Clint inclined his head. The information was noted and that was that. A little voice in his head yelled at him saying that he should be careful around these people since they knew all about him and he knew nothing about them. The voice was quickly drowned out by his thoughts and Clint took no notice of the voice that he once called his conscience.

"Let's go to the conference room. We have to do some briefing to help catch our new friend up now don't we?" Loki turned with a flourish before striding away towards the door at the end of the hall. It looked almost ridiculous the way he strutted around like a peacock.

The three behind him all shared amused glances, albeit Clint and Antoinette were slightly more subdued, before following after their self-proclaimed leader. One by one they entered through the small doorway into a much larger room than before. A large circular table with four chairs stood in the middle of the room. Each of them walked over to their separate stations and took their seats.

Clint leaned forward on the table and rested his head on one of his fists. "Now that Barton is here, we can proceed with our plans. For his sake I'll go over what we have been planning in minute detail. If there is anything I have missed tell me. I would like to avoid misunderstanding." Loki's words all had a certain tone to them that made him seem as if he was speaking in front of a great court instead of partners.

"Earth has been deteriorating rapidly for generations now. At the rate everything is going, the world will crash and burn in a centuries time. Wars run rampant and atrocities are being committed, yet no one is trying to stop them. This... United Nations that earth has condemns cruelty, yet they do not stop it. Countries are the same. They disdain getting their hands dirty with the crimes someone else has committed and thus let lives pass on into the next world. This will never change if things remain the way they are."

"This is why we have all come together. There are two things necessary for war. It is beyond troops or money. Things such as that have no real importance when technology and banks are involved. What you need to wage war are the aggressor and the victim. Someone has to start the conflict and someone has to be on the receiving end of the attack. As long as these two things exist war will continue."

Loki stopped to catch his breath and turned towards the three around the table, looking at each one in turn. "We're going to unite the world under a single force. Everyone will hate us for it. I don't doubt that the 'Avengers Initiative' will go back online to stop us. Countries will probably unite against us. That is why we have to get the drop on them." Loki picked up a clicker from the table and tapped one of the buttons.

In the center of the table, a piece of wood submerged itself and slid under the table and gave way to a projector. The 3D projector flickered for a moment before displaying an image above the table. The blue light formed in the shape of an atom of some sort. Clint had never seen anything like it before. Dozens of electrons swirled around the nucleus in a complex format that almost made his head whirl.

"If they call Higgs Benson the god particle then this is the hell particle." Loki scoffed at the name before continuing. "One of the unique things about the particle is the fact that it can be inserted into spider's silk. If an electric charge is sent through the silk it will activate the particle. Once activated the particle will begin breaking down whatever it is in contact with. Except for the spider silk because the protein fiber in the strands causes a negative reaction against the particle, but we don't have to go into that."

Loki shook his head to dismiss the thought before saying, "The particle is surprisingly easy to manufacture in a laboratory. Our scientists in America are working with the production of the particle while textile workers in Madagascar are weaving the silk. We've already managed to put together weapons such as swords, gauntlets, and spears to suit this purpose. Guns are harder because we have to make sure the gunpowder doesn't contaminate the material. Also we'd have to coat every bullet and make them retain their charge. It would be a waste of time and money. This is where you come in, Barton."

Loki turned to Clint and looked at him directly in the eyes. "Arrows are easier to manufacture with the material since not only can they be reused, but they won't have to go through any contamination. You'll be one of our very few long distance fighters. Each of us in this room specialize in a certain weapon and that is why we are all here." The man waved his arms around the room with a proud flourish.

"So? What do you think?" He sent a smirk at his partners in crime. Loki had that cocky smirk on his face as if he had just done something incredible like run a mile in under a minute. Clint was sure the emotion he would have paired to the facial expression would have been pride, but he wasn't sure if that was true. Was it pride if someone deserved to feel good about it?

Clint took a moment look at the man. He had always taken Loki to be someone who thought on his feet and waved his scepter around to cast all sorts of magic. Never had he thought that the man would take years to prepare something like this. "One question. Why are you doing this for earth? If I recall humans were compared to ants and were puny?" He may have supported Loki back then, but it was still for reasons of his own. The end goal was what he wanted, not the man that lead the way.

"Earth... It is different than Asgard." Loki's eyes dulled and a faraway look entered his eyes as he stared at the 3D particle. "My father and brother... We all have titles you know. Thor, god of thunder, and Odin, the all-father. We have been this way for many hundreds of years. Never changing, we always stay exactly the same. There's no hope for anything there because everything is always constant. Less some trolls come to try and take over we live our lives in a constant order. One step outside of the boundaries and you are criminalized."

"On this earth there is something called opportunity. It is something that allows you humans to move up in society. It's something to be valued. It's a dear precious thing you know. It pains me to see you all discard it so easily." Loki shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I want to protect it. Cultivate a place where all opportunity can be realized. If a child is willing to learn, let them learn. If a family is hungry, let them eat. The opportunity for them to move up in the world is staunched by immediate needs."

He stopped abruptly and closed his eyes. Clint looked at him with a new perspective. He had no idea that the man had seen earth in such a way. Thor had always talked of Asgard as being the epitome of equality and wellbeing. Where every man, woman, and child was protected inside its borders from the trolls and giants. There was always the other side. Where the people who wanted to protect their brothers and sisters were never given the opportunity since the soldiers that protected the borders had done so for centuries and would do so for centuries more. It was a world where everything would always be the same, never changing, always stagnant.

It reaffirmed to Clint the importance of the truth given to him. Seeing only one side of the argument was blinding. There was no true villain. Everyone had good moments, and everyone had bad moments. 'You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.' Was it? Clint could believe it now.

He only hoped that Natasha would be able to understand as well. Someday, he hoped, she would.

**Yes! I have ocs. Don't murder me. I needed them because it would be weird if it was just Loki and the nameless crew. Don't worry, only Antoinette and Maxton will play semi-important roles. Even then they won't become main characters like Clint, Natasha, and Loki. **

**As a notice, no I do not support world domination or anything like that. It's a plot device. Don't send me hate mail about my beliefs and stuff because I don't believe it. XD**

**By the way... If anyone of you would like to beta this it would be helpful. ;3; My brain doesn't work correctly when I try to edit my own stuff so I know a lot of stuff flies by me. If I get a beta I'll update every other day if my beta is ok with that and I'll lengthen out to 3k words per update.**

**Thank you to everyone reading this fic! And special thanks to all my wonderful subscribers and reviewers! I really appreciate it! :D**

**Edit: Not as much done here, but there were a few important bits. Gah! I really changed him in the beginning chapters. I hope this clears it all up!**


	6. By Surprise

Took us all by surprise  
No, we never saw this coming  
Always were, always will be our hero  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

He had left... Just like that. After they had talked, Natasha had thought that she'd be able to pull him out of there in a few weeks, but now... He was gone. She felt hollow inside as she sat on the small bed provided to her by S.H.I.E.L.D. The woman remembered the times that she and Clint had sat together on the bed to talk about everything that had happened on their previous missions. It was one of the very few things that kept them sane after all the bloodshed.

Her hand caressed the worn fabric as she stared at it. He had left them. Clint had gone and betrayed all of them. He had betrayed her. She gripped the fabric tightly in her fingers and clamped her eyes shut to stop the tears from leaking out. She couldn't cry even over something like this. She was the Black Widow. She manipulated the emotions of others. So why did she feel so weak now?

A sharp knock on her door brought her out of her haze as she turned to the white door. "Come in." She said, her cracking voice betraying her true emotions.

The door slid open and Captain America stepped into the room. The man without the suit looked so different. With it on, he was a domineering figure that seemed to exude confidence. Now he looked as if he was coming to bring news that someone had just died. Somehow she doubted it was Clint, but perhaps instead of a death it was a death sentence. Either would be unwelcome.

"Hey Romanoff." The captain had never really gotten used to being around the only female avenger. Some little demon in the back of his mind kept on freaking out whenever he saw her gear up for battle. In his time women were beginning to be integrated into the army, but they still weren't normally seen on the front lines. Peggy was one of the few exceptions because she was given a fairly powerful role. Seeing a woman like Natasha was a smack in the face sometimes.

"What do you need, Rogers?" Natasha quickly gathered herself and looked back towards Rogers. Black Widow never showed more emotion than was necessary. She'd keep to that oath for as long as she could, though a part of her was just waiting to break down.

"Fury wants us all in the bridge. He wants to talk about _that_." Clint's escape was a sensitive subject for them all. It had been a year since Loki had been sent back to Asgard the first time and so many things had happened. The Avengers were allowed to disperse for awhile, but for Rogers, S.H.I.E.L.D. was all he had. Being stuck 70 years out of time made it hard for him to readjust. Things from cars to transportable phones boggled his mind.

So, he had returned only a few weeks after being released. Over the past few months he'd begun to reincorporate himself back into society starting with his driver's license. He could remember as if it were yesterday how all of the Avengers sans Thor had thrown him a small celebration. He missed when it was so simple. It seemed as if they'd all have to return to duty once more.

"Right. Thanks, Rogers." Natasha ran a hand through her short hair before turning back to the bed. It was a silent action that Steve took as a dismissal.

He turned back to the door and put his hand on the side before pausing. He cast a glance over his shoulder and said, "Just tell me if you ever need to talk, alright?" He felt bad for Natasha. Clint and her had always been close and it was easy to tell that she was distressed by it. It was bad timing for the meeting, but it had to come sooner rather than later if they were to apprehend them.

Natasha hummed back as an acknowledgement. Steve nodded and gave her a small smile before leaving her compartment.

Natasha exhaled sharply before forcing herself up from her bed. It would do her no good to dwell on it if she had to be at the bridge soon. She had to look composed. She walked over to her mirror and stared at herself. Her face looked thin and hallow. Eyes once filled with sly amusement were slightly puffy and red from tears. She'd have to remedy that.

She turned the tap on and splashed water into her face. After a few moments she turned the knob off and rubbed a sleeve across her face. When she looked up again her eyes were filled with fierce determination. She'd have to do this.

She exited her apartment and headed towards the bridge. Her shoes clacked against the tile flooring as she hurried along. Fury normally liked them within five to ten minutes of his summons. Something about every moment mattered.

She placed her hand in front of a detector and watched as a blue light scanned her hand. It blinked green in confirmation as the door opened to let her inside of the airship's control room. The round table stood overlooking the many desks of grunts working on getting the ship operational. She couldn't say that she actually knew any of them though they knew her. They were just there.

Above the men and women was the circular table. Already Natasha could see the forms of Steve and Bruce sitting around the table with Fury at the control panels. The woman quickly walked up the pathway and took her designated seat around the table. Bruce sent her a sympathetic smile as she sat down.

She was beginning to hate all the sympathy she was getting. It wasn't as if he was dead, right? There was still a chance to get him back if he would just come back to his senses. It was if she was the only one thinking that he could still come back. Had they all given up hope so early?

Stark sauntered in through the doors a moment later and took his seat beside Natasha. He twirled around in the revolving chair and gave innocent looks to his stupefied companions. Well it seemed as if one of them wasn't feeling gloomy.

"You all know what happened yesterday. Loki got into the airship and broke into the prison ward. From there he extracted Agent Barton and absconded with him. We no longer know his location because Barton's tracker was broken before he was imprisoned. We have to assume now that Barton is on the enemy's side." Fury's voice sounded monotone in Natasha's ears. It was if he was a teacher reciting facts. It wasn't a fact that Clint was an enemy. What if he was kidnapped? Loki could be trying to brain wash him again as they spoke! They didn't know that it actually happened yet.

"We're currently spending all of our resources to locate them, but have so far come up with no results. We'll be continuing the search, but Professor Banner and Stark? We want you to begin your own independent search. Heavens know that you seem to find things faster than the rest of us." Fury grumbled disgruntledly.

"Ah, ah. Why are we even chasing after them? I mean, dude. Last time they stole the tesseract, but this time what have they stolen? They kind of took, Clint, but the dude tried to run away from us just a few days ago. I really doubt that he didn't leave of his own volition. No signs of struggle were found, you know? Even a bit of blood on the ground would have helped his case. There was nothing." Tony pointed out lazily. He stopped his chair from rotating and cast a glance down the table.

"I just don't see the point in this. If Thor isn't back then they must not think that Loki's return is that big of a deal." Tony shrugged before going back to rocking his seat.

Bruce frowned. It was true that once Loki appeared on earth, Thor had been back within the day. This time a few days had passed and he had still not arrived. Did this mean that the thunder god either didn't know of Loki's disappearance or would he not intervene until Loki caused trouble?

The professor sighed and rapped his fingers on the table. This was becoming so complex and so quickly. He didn't see a way that this wouldn't become another war unless Loki just wanted to help rescue his friend. Bruce strongly doubted that. Wouldn't the mischief maker ever give it a rest?

"Loki wouldn't kidnap Clint if it was nothing." Natasha snapped back. Stark's blasé behavior was beginning to really frustrate her. He was just being so childish! Did he think this was all a game or something?

"Kidnap isn't the right word, my dear." Tony replied in his sing song voice. He smiled and looked over towards Natasha. "Didn't we already say that he decided to leave on his own?"

"You might all believe it, but I don't." Natasha hissed back. In the back of her mind Natasha quietly whispered, "Oh Clint, why did you have to do this?"

**I thought it would be good to flash to how Natasha is coping with it all. (: Don't worry, just because the two are separated now doesn't mean that they'll be forever apart.**

**Also reiterating my plea for a beta if anyone is willing. xD PM or reviewing is ok for a response. I would kind of like someone who would be willing to bounce ideas with me before I write more than a grammar checker. I want to make sure I know definitely where my story is going. ;3; **

**Edit: This wasn't really edited. As a not for all future chapters: Chapters starring the Avengers/Natasha will not be edited. Clint is the only character that I really had problems with in the beginning. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Warning Sign

With no warning sign  
One day they came  
And took you away

**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Clint leaned against the wall of his small room. The walls were all a shiny black. Somehow it made him feel as if he was in some sort of elaborate cage. No, he had decided to be here. It was what he had to do, right? A part of him dug deep inside to find the thing called his conscience. It had gone into a lull for the longest time and Clint felt its absence sharply.

His hands itched at his sides. Ever since he was a boy, he had hated being in enclosed spaces. That feeling still remained now that he was older. The sky, he wanted to see it, but it was hidden through the water. No natural light existed underneath the waves and instead there was only the flickering of man made light.

The man looked at his callused hands. Recently decisions had become harder to make. He remembered before how he saved Natasha because it was "right". Now, he wasn't sure if he could tell what was right or wrong. Instead he felt some sort of hollow feeling telling him to look at the facts. The good, the bad, the pro, the con, they were all laid out on a table before him and he was left to sort out which side had more pro.

There was nothing inherently good anymore. He scrunched up his eyes as he read into the lines on his hands. It had been happening for almost a year now, but almost nothing felt good and true to him anymore. Killing people didn't scare him as much as it used to because the pros to their deaths outweighed the cons. He couldn't even say that he liked what he ate now. His brain was thinking in positive and negative responses. So what made something good?

He sighed and dropped his hands beside him. If Natasha were here she'd probably slap him and tell him to get his head together. Clint smiled faintly at that. The Black Widow had never been a particularly good empathizer. But... She did have a knack for making him feel better. He wished that she were here now.

The small smile fell away into a frown. He'd be fighting against her now. But, this was what was right wasn't it? What Loki had said made sense. If there were no more combatants there couldn't be any war. Something felt wrong about it though. Wasn't this just a roundabout way of saying they were trying to dominate the world? He shook his head slightly. No, that couldn't be it. After the meeting was over he remembered the meeting he and Loki had without the other two. What the man planned to do was so different than anything Clint had ever dreamed of. It made feel as if the Asgardean really had a soul. He couldn't doubt that.

He closed his eyes before getting up from his small bed. It would do him no good to dwell on it now. He had already committed to doing this and there was no turning back anymore. Perhaps this time, just this time, the ends would justify the means.

He walked through the sliding doors to his room and snaked his way down towards the armory. The submarine was cramped in the hallways, but Clint found it rather large in all the independent rooms. It made walking around unpleasant, but once he reached his destination he was able to stand up to his full height once more.

The armory was layered with dozens of various weapons along the walls. It was curious to see weapons like these. Spears and gauntlets seemed so primitive in the gun battles that Clint had so often been involved in. He strode past a few trainees testing out the gear and went to the lab room.

The scientists in the back had been working on a quiver and a set of arrows for him. They had to thoroughly coat the weapon in the silken fabric and had been working on knots to keep the silk in place. Each bit of spider silk was precious since it took so long to collect and weave.

The spiders were contained in a lower part of the sub and Clint had been astounded by how many there truly were. Thousands upon thousands of spiders had crawled along the walls of that room. It was the stuff that nightmares were made of.

"Ah, Barton." One of the scientists called his name and Clint walked over to the man.

"Yes, Lewis?" Clint replied as he looked over the man's lab table. Upon the steel top were various shafts and arrowheads. Lewis picked up one of the black shafts and twirled it between his fingers.

"We made a few test arrows without the particle on them so you could see if you like the weight and balance of them before we began mass producing them. Would you like to test them?" The man smiled meekly before putting the shaft back down on the table. He walked over to the side of the desk and pulled up a quiver with four arrows in them. He tossed the quiver to Clint who caught it with a single hand.

"We had the bow made how you told us to. Enrique has it over by the shooting range so feel free to fire off a few. Tell us if you need anything." Clint waved goodbye to the brown haired man and headed over to the archery range in the next room over. He bowed as he ducked through the small hole to the next room and saw a blonde man staring helplessly at a bow.

The man looked up at the sound of someone arriving and let out a sigh of relief. Enrique held the bow out to Clint before shuffling away. Clearly the assistant didn't want to be anywhere near a weapon. Well this sub was certainly a bad place to be for him. Clint dropped his quiver on the ground and looked at the bow with a curious eye. It wasn't too different from his old one except for the colors. Instead of pure black it had a red band where his hand would be. He wasn't particularly fond of it, but it was for aesthetics he supposed.

He tossed the bow up into the air. When he caught it he twirled it around and listened to the sound of air rushing around the metal. It cut through the air fast enough. He studied the bow more closely for a moment before carelessly running a finger along the edge. He pulled it away and was pleased to see a small dribble of red coming from his finger. At least they remembered to sharpen it.

He paused for a moment. Was it normal to purposefully prick one's finger to test for sharpness? Clint shook his head. It was foolish to be questioning such little things now. He bent down to the ground and slid one of the arrows out of its place.

He balanced it on his knuckled before flipping it into his palm. The arrow knotched quickly into the bow and Clint pulled back quickly before firing. He never stopped to check his aim. He just fired.

The arrow lodged itself in the center of the target, but Clint frowned. The arrow was off a few millimeters from dead center. He gripped his bow tightly and pulled out the next arrow. That arrow wedged itself a few millimeters to the other side of the center. Clint quickly ran through his quiver and was disgruntled to see that while all arrows hit bull's-eye, they didn't get the core.

He had noticed this happening for nearly a year now and it irked him. Why couldn't he hit dead center anymore? He could excuse himself by saying it was a new bow, but it felt exactly the same in his hands. The arrows were perfectly fine as well. It was just that nothing felt right anymore.

He placed the bow down on the ground before walking across the range to pull the arrows out of the target. After taking them all out, he headed back to let loose a few more. He watched himself to see if he could figure out what he was doing wrong. He was moving through the actions, but none of it felt right to him.

The last arrow stuck into the target. They all skirted around the center, but not dead center. Clint growled lowly at the arrows. What was wrong with him? All of them would obviously kill with no trouble, but why couldn't he do better than this? He was completely capable of it. He set the bow down on the railing beside him and ran a hand across his face. Ever since that year ago, he had really become a mess. "What's wrong with me?" He asked himself quietly. There was no answer

**Renewing my call for a beta! xD All I'll really ask you to do is PM with me about plot ideas and help me iron out the wrinkles. I basically need someone to tell me what ideas should never be mentioned ever again and which ones are good. (: **

**And thank you to each and everyone of my subscribers! I'm always ecstatic whenever I see my number go up one. /happy tears**

**Edit: Added about 200 words to this one. It looks like I was getting progressively better as time went on so there might not be too many edits in the near future. If that is true then I can do new chapters soon! YAY!**


	8. Nothing Left For Us To Say

Things can be so unfair  
You were taken away before your time  
Now we're all sitting here  
Nothing left for us to say  
Don't want to leave you behind  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Shards of glass dropped to the floor as Natasha let out her pent up fury. They had decided upon it that morning. Clint was now on a kill on sight list. She grunted in annoyance as she turned away from the broken mirror on the ground. Seven years of bad luck? It wasn't as if her life hadn't been filled with bad luck anyways.

"Clint..." Natasha looked back to her bedside where she kept an old photograph of her and Clint. No matter even if she was given orders. Killing Clint was a mission she absolutely could not follow. She picked up the photograph and smoothed it between her fingers. Budapest. A small smile lit her face.

They had first met in Budapest. Albeit, she had still been on the opposite side back then and had been shooting at him. After the day was done she had gone against her comrades to join S.H.I.E.L.D. He had just been that convincing she supposed. Or maybe it was those dashing good looks that everyone seemed to joke about.

She sighed as she looked at the picture of Clint with his arm draped carelessly over her shoulder. If only her former self could have appreciated him just a little bit more. If she had tried just a little bit harder maybe this wouldn't have happened. She rubbed her eye with her spare hand. No she was most certainly not crying! She didn't cry. Memories just got in her eyes... That sounded so stupid.

The red haired woman placed the picture back on the small nightstand before exiting her room. Clint had coerced her into betraying one group of homicidal maniacs and if saving his life meant she had to betray another group then she'd do it. Clint wasn't going to die over something as stupid as this. If she had to sabatoge S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside to get him back then she'd do it. After she'd knocked a bit of sense into him of course.

She forced herself to feel confident. She would try to get him back was the wrong phrasing. She **would** get him back. She knew it.

"Romanoff, are you alright? I heard something from your room." Natasha turned around to see Steve standing in the hallway. He looked tired. Dark rings circled his eyes and he had a frown twitching at the corners of his mouth. Natasha felt some sort of grim satisfaction that she wasn't the only one sad about everything that was going on.

"No." She replied coldly. "I'm not alright. I won't be alright. Not for awhile." She spoke in clipped phrases. She couldn't bring herself to talk normally just yet.

Steve flinched at the hurt in her voice. That had been an insensitive question of him to ask. Of course she'd be like this especially after the news. Not only had Clint been put on a shoot to kill list, but he'd been ranked up there with Loki on the planetary search. He was just as high of a priority target as the Asgardean god himself.

The profile called Clint a betrayer with knowledge of information that is critical to S.H.I.E.L.D. They also later referenced his mental instability and called him a lost cause. Steve hated it. Clint was not insane and he knew it. Clint was exactly the same as the rest of them. All superheroes should have belonged to the circus. Each of them walked the tightrope of insanity and sometimes the rope began to fray. Steve knew that Clint's rope hadn't broken. He'd seen the man only days before his escape.

And a lost cause? No man was a lost cause. He had often been told to leave men behind because they were lost causes. Those had been some of the very few orders he ever disobeyed. Giving up on the very chance of their survival was a despicable thing.

"I'm sorry, Romanoff. If it makes you feel any better, I know at least Bruce and I will try to talk to him if we ever find him." Offering her condolences would do her little good. But perhaps this would do something more than an apology.

"Thank you, Steve." She almost cracked a smile at the promise. She pointedly noticed that Tony was not on the list of people promising not to kill him on sight, but it was something that she could bother with later. Some people still believed in Clint and that was enough.

A crackle in their ears drew their attention and the sound of Fury's voice came over the comm. "We think we have a lock on their location. Come to the fourth floor lab room." His resonating voice cut off as quickly as it had come and Steve and Natasha shared a look. It was only two weeks after the escape and they had found them so soon? Was it like last time and Loki wasn't bothering to hide?

The pair headed down the hallways until they reached the lab. The white walls almost seemed to glow eerily by the numerous monitors plastered along the room. Bruce and Fury stood in front of a central panel with Tony peering curiously over their shoulders.

Natasha's eyes caught the large monitor where she saw the figure that she had been ever so dearly missing. It was an overhead view relayed back from one of the many S.H.I.E.L.D. drones scouting the countryside for the missing soldiers.

The drone circled overhead with its camera fixed on the blonde man below. Clint was reclining back in a field as if nothing was wrong. A black and red bow lay beside his head with his trusty quiver of arrows right beside that. But that wasn't the strange thing.

Natasha could tell he was looking right at the drone. He knew they were watching so why wasn't he reacting? The camera clicked and zoomed farther in so they had a view of his face.

A blank look looked back at them. It was so strangely without emotion that it was unnerving. "Clint." She muttered softly. She wished he could hear her, but she knew it was futile.

Clint reached out a calm hand and picked up his bow from the ground. He slipped an arrow out from his quiver. He pulled himself up from the ground and nodded his head down as both of the weapons in his hands. It was as if he was trying to teach a class. It was nearly patronizing.

Tony's eyes narrowed in on the arrow the man was holding. "Have it zoom in on the arrowhead. Something isn't right about it. The monitor whirred as a larger image was brought up onto the screen. The sleek steel arrowhead was surrounded in a thin transparent cloth with blotches of red scattered around inside of it. "I doubt that's a ritual he and Loki have picked up so what is it?"

The image zoomed back out to a full body picture of Clint as he notched the arrow in his bow and fired it across the field. The black arrow flew across the plain before locking itself in a tree. The camera stared at the arrow for a moment before something really incredible happened.

A trail of smoke grew from the arrow as the dent in the wood slowly began to grow. The camera clicked madly as it zoomed in to capture the film. The arrowhead glowed a flashing red as the tree began to melt away from the inside out.

"What the heck? It's not even a freaking incendiary!" Tony exclaimed as he pushed Fury aside to stare intently at the monitor. He immediately snapped into gear at the sight of the weapon and all sorts of formulae ran through his brain. He had never seen anything like this before. It was literally dissolving anyone on touch. It couldn't be an acid because it would melt the arrowhead so what was it? Acid on top of a protective filament?

A red light flashed on the monitor as the drone whirled around to face the incoming projectile. The last thing Natasha saw on the screen with a glint of metal as an arrow shot the drone out of the sky. Black and gray lines danced across the screen as the feed was cut.

There was no way she could rationalize this now. It wasn't a mistake that he left or that he was kidnapped. He obviously attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. drone. Maybe he was being mind-controlled? It would explain his blank face, but... Natasha felt the air get thinner as her mind scrambled about in circles. Oh, but there was no way to just make sense of this!

Her breathing got quicker as her thoughts chased each other around in circles. Each attempt she made to figure out what was going on always ended at the same point: Clint knew what he was doing.

She faintly heard the sounds of her teammates in the background. Tony was shouting something about unknown technology while Steve was arguing back with teammates being the first priority.

"We should go after him while we still know his location! You agree with me, right, Romanoff?" Steve turned to Natasha only to realize she looked unnaturally pale. "Romanoff? Are you alright?" He mentally kicked himself for asking the same question as before, but she looked ill.

"I told you, I..." Natasha opened her mouth to snap back, but found herself stalled. Everything seemed so bleak. Colors faded before her eyes and she blinked to try and refocus herself. And then... she fainted.

**OwlMay: I totally agree. D: What Tony has to do is make a teleporter and send Natasha right over to Clint. ;3; While writing this I found myself unconsciously writing about knocking sense into Clint. xD All this knocking is getting to me I just know it!**

**ShadowQueenMidna: I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should try to update every three days or something like that and stuff in 3,000 words or just update daily with 1.5k. What do you think I should do? I normally write these in a single go without reading over it so if I took longer I might read over it. /ponders**

**Everyone thank you so much for reading this! I hope you're all enjoying! If you have any comments or concerns feel free to tell me and I'll try to continue to improve this story for you all! :D**


	9. Saw This Coming

Took us all by surprise  
No, we never saw this coming  
Always were always will be our hero  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

The pats on the back that he was getting were no consolation. It was one thing to look relaxed and as if it was nothing. It was a completely other thing to really feel like it was nothing. Clint felt like he had just kicked a beaten puppy. He had turned from S.H.I.E.L.D.s side, yes. That didn't mean he had to go out into the countryside and flat out flaunt it.

Hawkeye cupped his head in his hands and gave a dismal sigh. There was some part of him that clung onto the fact that he could always return if push came to shove. Now it would obviously not be the case. He had gone out and shot a S.H.I.E.L.D. drone. It was a declaration of war and everyone in the truck knew it.

Antoinette sat cross legged on the other side of the bumbling bus. They had gone out into the countryside to make a point with the tree, but they couldn't stay long. S.H.I.E.L.D. would knew they were there and that meant they had to get out of there ASAP.

"You did good, Barton. Stop cowering like a bullied animal and feel some pride for once. You are a man aren't you?" Antoinette snapped in her snarky fashion. It was so different from Natasha. She had been filled with sarcastic comments, but they were all intertwined with humor. She was a pleasure to be around and now she was probably going to be out to kill him. Clint groaned at the thought and hung his head even lower.

What really worried him was the fact that he really didn't seem to care much about the fact he just shot down a drone. Pulling the arrow and letting loose had all become so natural to him it didn't matter what target he had as long as he had one. The only thing he really felt bad about was the fact that he was going to be at war with Natasha soon. What would happen if they met out on the field?

He wouldn't doubt that she would try and talk to him, but she also had her duty. Clint wanted to fight alongside her or her alongside him, but a nagging part of him told him that it would never happen. She was much more dedicated than he was. It was a good quality she had. He was the backstabber after all.

Clint was jostled over a bump as the car headed down its merry way. "The helicopter is going to pick us up in five minutes. Be ready why don't you? I don't know why Loki keeps you around because you're such a sorry sport. Even Maxton has more will than you and he's like a dead fish." Antoinette snorted as she waved a careless hand.

Yes, Natasha was infinitely more fun to be around. He spent the next five minutes recalling all of the missions they had had together. There was a certain thrill to be had knowing that there was no backup when he was on a solo mission, but there was something else entirely when he was paired up. It just felt right and that they worked together. Now it felt empty working on his own.

"We're here. Get out and get your head in gear, eh?" Antoinette said flippantly as she headed out of the vehicle. The two other men in the care followed along to the helicopter that was waiting outside. The blades spun slowly around as she got into the huge machine.

Clint slowly dragged himself out of the hum vee and walked towards the helicopter. A weird ringing sounded in his ears before the ringing turned into a roar. It was a sound he had gotten far too familiar with in his days on the field. It wasn't the sound of a bullet. No, those cut the air different, even machine guns wouldn't make this sound. He didn't even need to turn around to figure out what the rumbling was caused by.

He instinctively dropped to the ground and covered his head with his arms as a missile soared overhead and towards the helicopter. The white bomb flew through the air and extended out two small detonators on either wing. Who had ever known that three seconds could seem like an eternity? It twirled on its side to avoid the bullets hurtling at it as it neared.

Clint vaguely saw Antoinette grab a spear that had been covered with the particle. The spear sliced through the air and contacted with the missile only a few feet in the way. She hadn't throw it soon enough.

The explosion was earthshattering. The missile's fiery exit caught the helicopter and flames licked the metal and instantly turned it sweltering. Moments later the heat wormed its way to the gas tank and a second blast sent Clint was hurtling across the ground before slamming into the wheels of the car he had just left.

The breath was knocked out of him and his vision wavered as all he heard was the murky rumbling of fire. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that this had to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. counterstrike after the drone. Even farther back in his mind was the realization that everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. would be perfectly fine with him dead.

There was no time to be thinking of this now. If they had sent a missile after them they'd probably send a drone to make sure they were all dead. That meant he had to move. Thankful for the ever preasant quiver of arrows on his back, Clint clicked a button before slipping an arrow out of its sheath. He stabbed it into the ground and used it to help forcing himself up.

His muscles all screamed in pain as he did, but he knew he had to continue. He'd been through worse after all. Stray eyes looked up at the burning wreckage. It didn't seem possible that anyone had survived that. Clint knew he should feel bad about their deaths. After all, he had just spent the last 2 weeks with those men, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He had heard that apathy was one of the side effects of war, but he hadn't believed it. Maybe he was becoming apathetic then? After all, he couldn't even bring himself to feel bad about internally insulting Antoinette only a few minutes earlier. He swayed on his feet before twirled his arrow back into his quiver.

His eyes looked around for any other signs of life before he went around to the front of the car. The glass had been completely blown out by the explosion and a few choice shards stuck out of the man. He was now dead.

Clint let out a raspy grunt of disgust before he hauled the man out and onto the ground. He pulled himself up into the car and ignored the crackling of glass as he sat down. He turned the key in the ignition and listened as the engine roar itself away.

He slammed his foot down on the pedal and took off, eager to get away from the bloody scene. Now how would he get back to base? Heck if he knew how.

**Good news guys! Well, good for you and bad for me. I've been stalling my writing until 6pm everyday (which leaves me 2 hours to write and upload this chapter for you) because I was playing a Hunger Games mafia game. I just died. Yeah. Sucks to be me, but this means I have more time to write! XDD I'll begin more around 3pm instead of 6pm so it'll be higher quality. :K I didn't update yesterday so I wanted to get this out to update today so forgive crappy quality. **

**Also thanks for all the reviews yesterday! I nearly started crying seeing how many I got. /hugs everyone**

**Vampgirl1902: I'm so glad you like it! :D I'll try to get on a better update schedule now that my schedule is clearing up!**

**Sinkme: I'm glad it was kind of unexpected! :P Villains have always interested me like that because no one ever just wants world domination. There is always something behind it and sometimes the cause is noble but the route is evil. **

**ShadowQueenMidna: Next step... I figure out how polls work. I still have never done one after 3 years on here. Ouch. And I'm glad you like my Natasha! I wasn't sure if I was doing her well since I never saw her with many sensitive moments in the movies. **

**OwlMay: Oo, I'm glad! I'll try to hover more towards 2k words, but today was an off day for me... /crickets chirp Working on it. ;-;**

**Discordchick: Ahh! It really is hard to know what to think. D8 Poor Clint and Nat! /hugs them**


	10. One Day

With no warning sign  
One day they came  
And took you away  
**-Memories by EarlyRise**

Fury frowned at the monitor. The drone hadn't been packed with two rounds of missiles. No one was expected to survive the explosion. He crushed the can he had in his fist and dropped it limply into the garbage can beside his desk. He leaned forward and rested his hand on his fist as he studied the screen. The green and brown hum vee bumped along the road under the careful gaze of the drone.

He'd have to do something about the man, but he couldn't help but feel reluctant. The Council had overridden his authority and sent the drone strike and he knew that if the Council knew there was a survivor they would do so again. But Clint had been one of his faithful men for heavens knew how many years. Clint had often been sent on missions to play double agent before and hope still lingered that he was being commissioned for a job along that lines.

But if the Council was so eager to kill him then they could not have sent the man. It all seemed so wrong now. Fury rubbed his forehead in agitation and picked up a glass beside him. He took a swig before dropping the glass black down on the table.

The rest of the Avengers had already left to drag Natasha off to the infirmary after her fainting spell. She looked as if she had taken the blow right to the heart when she saw Clint on the screen. Never had he seen the Black Widow look so helpless as she did then. Even Tony looked sympathetic as the captain picked her up to leave for the medicine bay. Clint really did strike a chord within all of them.

He was supposed to have their success story. He was brought back from the dark side with Loki and was supposed to help everything go back to normal. It seemed things wouldn't be destined to turn out like now. He looked back at the monitor floating in front of him before he stood up. He'd have to tell Maria to send out a squad to capture Barton, but... he looked one more time at the monitor before shaking his head. They would be sent out with stun bullets instead of real guns.

It wasn't as if he had an incredible track record with following the Council's orders anyways. He could pretend that it was for interrogation purposes. He tapped a button on the side of his desk and intercom crackled to life. "Agent Hill, dispatch Alpha 671 to Barton's location. Tell them they only have clearance to use tranquilizers and nothing more."

"Yes, sir." Maria replied through the comm. She paused a moment before asking, "Do you think we can really get him back, sir?"

"I don't know, Agent Hill... We'll get him back, but we can't be sure that we'll be getting _him_ back." Fury replied softly. He and Barton had worked closely over the past few years. Losing the man once to Loki was hard enough, but losing him twice was enough to make him despair.

"Yes, sir. I..." Maria paused for a moment before mumbling out, "I'm sorry for your loss, sir."

Fury nodded absent mindedly, forgetting that Maria was in the bridge and not in his office. A moment later he sighed and said, "That will be all, Agent Hill."

Maria hummed an affirmative and the communication was severed. Fury got up from his chair and stepped around his desk. He passed through the door and out into the white hallways. He walked quickly down the hallways to find the medic bay. He tapped a button to summon the elevator and waited in silence.

Even though he had sent Alpha 671 to retrieve Barton, he knew that the Avengers would probably want a crack at bringing back their bird. There was absolutely no way that Natasha would miss the chance even though she had just fainted only a half hour ago. She was too dedicated and would probably say she'd recover on the flight over.

The bing of the elevator dragged his attention away as the doors opened before him. Fury stepped into the elevator and was slowly brought down to the lower levels where the infirmary was. It was strategically located next to the prison bay though the thought was unpleasant to think about. He strode calmly through the near empty hallways and down to the infirmary.

He opened up the door to see Natasha scrunched up on the bed with her arms around her knees. She rocked back and forth aimlessly in thought. The woman seemed completely lost at what to do. This wasn't the Black Widow he was used to. This was the woman, no girl, Natasha Romanoff.

She looked absolutely lost. Her eyes blankly gazed forward into the sickly white sheets. Fury couldn't even tell if she was really seeing the world or if she was seeing a memory. He'd seen many a good soldier get lost in memories long gone and he didn't want to let that happen to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff. I trust you are improved?" It sounded so generated, but he was a leader and leaders weren't meant to express emotion.

"Mmhmm." Natasha hummed back. Improved was a vague term. She was awake which was what really mattered, but she didn't feel any better. She rocked forward with a downcast look on her fast. "I trust you are here for more than to check on my wellbeing. What is it?" She didn't particularly want company at that moment. That was why she had banished Tony from the room. Steve and Bruce were still quietly in the corner, but that was because she could trust them not to make small talk.

"We're going to send a squad after Barton now. We... The Council already sent a strike down, but he got away so he'll probably be at least weakened. I know it's soon, but I wanted to make sure you all got the chance to go after him as well." Fury gripped his hands tightly behind his back and wore an uncomfortable frown on his face. "If you go then take at least two of your teammates with you because we don't know if there is anyone else around there." What Fury was really trying to say was that he wasn't sure if Clint would right out attack them. He probably would.

Natasha looked up at that. They had sent a strike? A missile strike. Oh goodness, that probably meant Clint was hobbling out there with internal injuries and brain damage. On the bright side maybe he wouldn't be seen as much of a threat at that point. Maybe, just maybe, if she found Clint then she would be able to talk him out of all of this. "I'll go. When is the transport leaving?" In her peripherals she spotted Steve and Bruce nod to each other and she knew that they'd tag along with her.

"In an hour tops. Get suited up and get down to the hanger. I'll be sure to notify them that you have clearance." Fury gave a small smile. It came out as more of a smirk, but Natasha was glad for it anyways. More than one person would be working around the rules to get Clint back. The higher up the people came from the easier it would be for her.

"Yes, sir." Natasha unhooked her arms from around her knees and scooted over to the side of the bed. She couldn't mope around if she was going to haul Clint back. At her sudden movement, her vision darkened for a moment and black and purple swirls clouded her vision. She blinked for a few moments until the clouds went away and she stood up. There were still times when she stood up too quickly and that happened.

"Good. See you then." Fury turned away and left the room just as Tony ambled back in.

"What is this of capturing lost birds that I hear? Mightenest I join thine noble crew?" Tony said in his sarcastic grandiose manner. He patted Natasha on the shoulder and gave a cheeky smile. "I can't let my friends go on a suicide mission now can I?"

Natasha swatted away the hand irritably and sent Tony a glare. "Come on, we have to get ready." Steve said to distract the two away. "How about we meet at the hanger in thirty minutes so we all have time to get ready?"

It was merely a formality that they all agreed to. They weren't going to be staying overnight or anything so there was really nothing to bring other than weapons. Since no one was really going to be hauling around a suitcase of guns they were pretty much planning to go as is.

Natasha exited the room and immediately headed down to the hanger. She already had her guns on her and there was nothing else that she would need. Instead her mind whirled with thoughts. She was already dazed from her fainting spell, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop her from going. She had to save Clint from himself because dangit, he was the stupidest smart person that she knew. He was going to self-implode on himself at this rate and Natasha was **not** going to let that happen if she could help it.

**It's late, but you still love me right? I wrote that pathetic excuse for a last chapter so I was struggling to get off on the right foot. I did something I've never done before... I rewrote this chapter 3 times before I was satisfied. xDD **

**On the bright side, I start a new song next time because I ran out of lyrics. /cough  
Yes, I do listen to the same some on repeat to create these chapters. |D**

**Thanks to everyone for reading! Review, please? (:**


	11. A Weakness

We all have a weakness  
But some of ours are easy to identify.  
Look me in the eye  
And ask for forgiveness;  
**-Dig by Incubus**

"Target spotted. Will you depart from air or would you like me to land?" The pilot called over his shoulder to the four passengers in the back. Pre-emptively, the hatch towards the back of the quinjet lowered and cold air rushed into the craft. Natasha peered out the door to see they couldn't be more than ten to twenty feet from the ground with Clint's car hurrying down the road. She would survive if she jumped.

That was really all she had to know. She poked the button on her seat belt and the belt shot away and back into the holder. "Natasha! What are you doing? It's too high up!" Steve shouted over the roaring of the engine. He unbuckled his own belt and leaped across the other side of the jet to try and grab Natasha. Keyword being: try.

Natasha noticed Steve coming and while she appreciated his worry, it wasn't needed. She let herself be pulled out of the jet by the vacuum and tumbled through the air. 10 seconds. She slipped a smoke grenade out of her waist pouch. 8 seconds. She flicked her fingers to activate the bomb. 5 seconds. With a twist of her arm she flung the smoke bomb directly in front of the car. 3 seconds. The grenade hit the dirt and a loud hissing filled the air as the fog surged out of its capsule and enveloped the road in a gray mist.

1 second. The car swerved to a stop as the explosion kicked up a wave of dry dirt. Natasha rolled on the ground to break her fall and looked up to see the truck stop directly in front of her. She grunted as her back ached from the fall. There was no time to stop now though, not with what she had to do.

She bolted up from the ground and jumped onto the front of the car. She slipped over the bumped and jumped right in front of the broken windshield. Clint's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Natasha appear out of the gray mist. However, he was even more surprised when Natasha slipped into the car beside him and ordered. "Drive."

It took him a few moments to understand what she was saying, but then he slammed his foot on the pedal. The engine roared as it was suddenly thrust into action. Natasha took the brief seconds before they sped off to drop a small ball out of the car window. It was small enough for Clint not to see, but large enough not to be missed when the smoke cleared. At least, she hoped it was large enough.

The car cut through the heavy smoke and Natasha prayed that there wouldn't be anyone in front of them. The cat ran without any blocks and burst out of the gray mist with trails of gray streaming behind them.

Clint's heart was beating quickly as he clutched the wheel. He had expected to be intercepted, but something that he didn't expect was to have Natasha in his car. Even more so, he didn't expect her to be in the car without trying to kill him. His once stilted mind whirled around as the adrenaline pumped through him.

-Just One Moment-

As the smoke cleared behind them, it dawned on the rest of the Avengers what was going on. Tony hovered in there air with an incredulous look on her face. A few seconds ticked by before he yelled, "Bird boy just took black bug! Fury will freaking kill me if I let that happen!"

Tony's face shield clicked into place and JARVIS began recalibrating the system to follow the vehicle. A few moments later, the thrusters activated and Tony soared after the escapees.

Below him, Steve was picking up a small circular disc on the ground. He unscrewed the lid and a scrap of paper drifted onto the ground. He shared a look with Bruce who picked up the note.

_Dear Rogers and Banner,_

_I assume you two will be the ones to read this since you're not likely to act hastily like Stark is. When I leave with Clint, don't follow me. Call Stark off and let me go. This has to end and it won't end until Loki is dead. I will return upon his death with Clint. Please don't act hastily. –Natasha_

Steve looked at Bruce for a moment then at the faint glow in the distance that was Iron Man. "Well shoot."

-Just One Moment-

An image of a phone ringing glowed red on his monitor as he soared through the air. Tony twitched his lips before saying, "JARVIS, tell whoever it is that I'm currently busy saving the world, unlike them because they obviously have time to call."

"Sir, I do think it is a good idea to pick up this call. It's from Mr. Rogers, sir." JARVIS replied calmly. Tony could swear that the AI sounded as if he were explaining something to a child. He'd have to reprogram Jarvis when he got home.

"Well then tell 'Mr. Rogers'", Tony sarcastically repeated the formal name for Steve, "that he had better pick up the pace and I'm too busy to talk to him at the moment. No arguments." JARVIS made a sound that unnaturally sounded like a sigh and clicked the phone off the screen. Tony would have to reprogram that sigh too.

He may have seemed calm at the moment, but he was inwardly fuming. Why were all of the Avengers deciding it was the perfect time to shop ship and go off to dominate the world? Was it that fun of an occupation? He highly doubted it. So what on earth did they think they were doing?

He and Natasha had never got along particularly well, but he did enjoy arguing with her over the littlest of things. Bruce normally gave in to his prodding and Steve was incredibly hard to irritate. Natasha on the other hand was full of snarky comebacks and sharp arguments. Tony honestly couldn't imagine her running off to join the Asgardean reject no matter how much she liked Clint. She was too hardheaded for that.

"Mr. Rogers informs me that the matter is quite urgent and that I am to connect him to you even if you request otherwise. Here he is, sir." JARVIS said. The AI subsequently patched Steve though before Tony could protest.

"Stark! Come back here, now! Call off the chase. Make it seem convincing, but get yourself back here now!" Steve demanded through the intercom.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What? Did you not get your chance to listen to the Star Spangled Banner this morning? Wait, I know! You missed out on the fifteenth repeat of the presidential speech! Aww, poor Captain. Now really, just let me do my business while you go try and hijack a bicycle or something." Tony quipped as he angled his way past a warning shot. It obviously wasn't fired to kill so was she trying to get him off her tail or something?

"Stark! I don't know anyone who is more airheaded than you at times." Steve's aggravated voice came through the comm. "Black Widow is infiltrating to see if she can shut Loki's organization down from the inside."

Tony stalled at that part. "Spangly pants say what?" A bullet struck his armor on the shoulder and Tony let himself tumbled back through the air.

"Romanoff is going with Barton on purpose so she can sabotage them! You're going to get them in trouble!" Steve annunciated through the communicator.

"When did you all decide not to tell me? I know we aren't best friends forever, but this is kind of important! And aren't we supposed to be bringing **back** someone instead of dropping someone off? Does Fury know about this? Last question: Do I really have to fake that the genius will get taken out by a bullet? You've got to be joking me." Tony grumbled the last part out. There was no way he'd normally be taken out by a bullet. This would kill his renown.

"We only found out about it a few minutes ago, Stark. That was why we kept on trying to call you. Sometimes I wonder if JARVIS got all the brains and you took the short straw." Steve grumbled irritably. "No, Fury doesn't know about this, but just let her go, Stark. And I'm sure you'll find a way to get yourself damaged."

Stark twitched an eyebrow. Recently Steve was becoming easier to irritate. Perhaps it was because he was getting used to how Americans acted? It was almost endearing. "I'll take it into serious consideration. I guess I'll be back. You're taking the head for this one though."

"JARVIS, cut him off will you?" The AI responded inaudibly as Steve's picture disappeared from Tony's monitor. "Ugh. Now to act like an idiot." He angled his left hand ever so slightly to drift closer to the ground. One of Natasha's bullets flew through the air and Tony's computer quickly calculated the trajectory.

His thruster moved him up a bit higher and then it happened. The bullet landed exactly where he planned it, in the middle of his left hand engine. The engine immediately broke and Tony spun out of control as his right hand thruster was still activated. "Woah!" Everything began spinning as he began spiraling towards the ground.

A jumble of trees and leaves met his vision as he crash landed into a nearby oak. Iron Man shook his head to try and clear away the incoming headache and groaned. "That better have been worth it. Spider woman better not screw up or she's paying for my migraine medication."

**Sorry it's late! D: I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it. It's really annoying when that happens, y'know? Luckily, OwlMay helped me out on that one. Thank you so much, May! I live to write another day! :D Or suffer another day... But I enjoy it... Writing is weird. **

**In any case, please send me a review! It helps me get my motivational juices flowing so I can keep my updates on time and ready to go! (;**


	12. Never Too Late

Maybe we'll turn it all around  
Because it's not too late  
It's never too late  
**-Never Too Late by 3 Day's Grace**

Natasha fired a last shot and sent Iron Man tumbling down into the nearby forest. She mentally sighed in relief before pulling herself back into the car. Tony had finally gotten the message, or it seemed that way. She had seen the way he swerved in front of the bullet. That meant that Steve probably got the message and wasn't completely against her idea. That was a mercy. She really didn't have to fight against her comrades yet if she could help it. Pretending to fight would be much easier than actually going head-to-head with her comrades.

Luckily Clint was too busy driving to really notice much else, so she didn't have to worry about faking deadly shots. Now she'd just have to pull off the rest of her plan. That would be the difficult part because, after all, Loki would probably be on the watch for people trying to sneak into his organization. She hadn't really thought this out too far ahead, but she hoped that Clint would side with her when the time came. Clint...she was with him now. Natasha looked at the man with a sad expression on her face.

He had caused her so much trouble over the past weeks and to be sitting beside him seemed so unreal right now. She had only come up with the plan to sabotage the organization while she was on the quinjet, so the plan couldn't be much older than twenty minutes. There had been no time for any mental preparation because she had to be fast on her feet to get inside the truck. But now she was here and she probably would be with Clint for the next few weeks, if not months.

How could she just face him as if nothing had happened?

Clint glanced over towards Natasha with an uncertain look on his face. He wasn't quite sure what had happened to bring her suddenly alongside him. Consequently, he wasn't quite sure why she wasn't shooting him. Apparently, something must have happened because she wasn't acting as if she were his enemy.

"Nat?" he inquired softly. He had never felt more paralyzed than when she was around. It felt as if every moment mattered, and it was nerve-wracking at times.

"You're an idiot, " she replied softly Clint made a face. What did she mean by that? He didn't think he was particularly stupid, but she seemed to be of that opinion.

"Clint, you're real idiot, you know that? You always go gallivanting off to save the world. You always do it, and you always leave people behind because you don't want them to get hurt or get in trouble. Heaven knows I love you, but you are the stupidest person in the world at times. Why... Why didn't you tell me anything? Why do you always, always, think that that the only way to get closure is if you sacrifice yourself and do something stupid? Do you want to die or something?" Natasha burst out suddenly. She dipped hear head low and buried her face in her hands.

It was what she honestly felt. Even before Loki had appeared, Clint had always gone out of the way to get himself in trouble to prevent others from being hurt. It was probably some martyrdom obsession. She had no doubt that he felt he was doing something noble. That he was saving her from getting injured. It was stupid! "Just because you think you're sacrificing yourself to save someone else doesn't mean they don't get hurt," she added softly.

Clint clutched the wheel tightly as he listened to her talk. He had planned everything as to what would be best for her. Hindsight is 20-20 as they say, and Clint realized that he had never taken her emotions into account. A part of him thought that a bit of suffering was needed now for the future to be better. For things to change, there always had to be suffering. The bloodless revolution may have been bloodless, but it was at the suffering of the former rulers that it happened. There was no such thing as a painless change.

"I'm sorry, Nat. It wasn't supposed to be like that. This was the only way though," Clint replied quietly. He knew he was treading on delicate ground and didn't want to damage their relationship further. Her feelings were some of the last things that he treasured now that he had lost S.H.I.E.L.D. and his old weapons. He had lost everything that had connected him to his past, and he couldn't afford to lose the very last thing. He had been shutting himself off from thinking about S.H.I.E.L.D. as anything more than an enemy, but he found that the reluctance still remained. He didn't want to kill those who numbered among his former allies. It was one of the many unexplainable things.

His brain had puzzled over it for a while: why did he care about his former allies? They were just associates. He had never interacted with most of them. He had even killed some of his former associates before during Loki's first attempt to take over. Yet, he still had that feeling in his heart that something should be wrong. In the battle of mind versus heart, the mind would still come out on top, and he would release the arrow. But even as he let the sting go, he would always feel a pit well up in his stomach, and he knew something was wrong.

"False dilemma, Clint. There will always be another option. The world will never run off of black and white. There are too many shades of gray for that," Natasha leaned back in her chair and stared out the broken windshield. She hated it when Clint was like this. Why was he so stubborn all of a sudden? It was as if he were losing pieces of his heart day by day and bit by bit. She noticed that he didn't even say that he didn't "want" for it to be like that. He sounded so stilted. It was as if he had lost all emotion.

Where was the proud man who always bantered back and forth with her over the comm instead of relaying information? Where was the manwho always told her that she was a worry-wart and that things would always "pass in time"? She had waited for it all to pass, but it never seemed to leave. He only got worse and worse, and Natasha hated it.

She hadn't originally joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because she hated the KGB. She joined it because she didn't want to fight against Clint anymore. If Clint had been like this all those years ago, Natasha couldn't say that she would have made the same choice.

A fire burned in Natasha's heart. This had to be all Loki's fault. Clint had never been the same after Loki had tampered with him the first time. The redhead gritted her teeth in frustration. She couldn't wait for the moment that she would finally kill the Asgardian. He would pay for what he had done. She was sure of it.

Clint didn't reply to Natasha's words and instead stewed over what she had said. He couldn't bring himself to say that he had regretted his actions, as he really didn't. If a conclusion was ever to be reached, this would have to be done. If it had to happen, then sooner would always be better than later. Hopefully now that Natasha was here, she would be able to see that.

He tilted his head to the side in thought. Why had she helped him to escape in the first place? If they did not share the same ideals, then why?

"Don't think I'm here because I agree with Loki, Clint," Natasha knew him well enough by now to know what he was thinking. "I'm here because I'm not about to let you go hurt yourself more. You may be stupid, but...I still love you." A small smile crossed her face as she said it. Her Clint had to be inside there somewhere, and she was going to get him back.

A flicker of emotion passed through Clint's eyes as he heard her words. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt for far too long. He felt...happy. It felt so warm; it was so strange. Clint couldn't remember the last time that he had felt this way. He remembered times when he did, but they were so many years ago. He almost wanted to laugh.

His fingers turned white around the wheel as he clutched the leather. He closed his eyes for a second and just let the world move around him. When he opened his eyes, he briefly looked over to Natasha and said, "I love you too, Nat. Thank you... Thank you for staying with me." _Thank you for not leaving me. Thank you for being that last bit of humanity that I have left._

* * *

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading everyone! :D This is a chapter I wrote for a fanfiction class so it's actually on time! WEE!  
**

**Edit: Ouch. My teacher graded it and I figured out that not only am I misspelling Asgardian, but I make on average one comma mistake per 60 words. I'll be working on it, you guys! D8**


	13. Sell My Soul

I'm at war with the world  
And they try to pull me into the dark  
I struggle to find my faith  
As I'm slipping from your arms  
**-Awake and Alive by Skillet**

The truck rattled to a stop, and Clint gave a sigh of relief. He was still alive. That had to be a good thing. He looked over at Natasha and rubbed his forehead. Oh dear, how would he explain this to Loki? One did not simply say, "Antoinette has died, and I brought a replacement who just happens to be a girl who beat you to a pulp last she saw you" because it would not go over well. Perhaps the more subtle approach would help? "Antoinette is permanently missing, so here's Nat! No, Clint shook his head quietly. That would not work either.

Natasha looked over towards her companion, and she let out a sigh, and said, "I'll deal with Loki." It was the obvious problem with her arrival. She couldn't be smuggled in or anything, so she'd have to walk right through the doors. Clint was probably easier to squeeze into Loki's company because he had a history of working with the man before. Natasha, on the other hand, was famous for kicking his behind during the battle with the Chitauri only a year ago. There was no way Loki would care to have her in his company for whatever reason.

She pulled on the handle of the car and slipped outside onto the gravel. The pieces of rock crunched beneath her feet as she made her way over to the large building. The gray concrete walls loomed overhead, and if Natasha didn't know better, she would have said it was deserted. But that was the thing about seemingly deserted buildings; everyone always chose to hide in deserted buildings. It was practically a trick of the trade.

Natasha's emerald eyes flicked to an upper floor window to see a sniper scope peeping out. She turned directly towards the gun and gave a quick wave. It was pretty much the only way for her to signal peace other than waving a white flag. Curious eyes peered from over the scope and warily looked down at her. "I'm not here to hurt you!" she called out to the man.

"You would not believe how many times I have heard that," Maxton said gruffly. His blue eyes looked Natasha over cautiously before flicking to Clint coming out of the car. "Barton! What's the meaning of this?"

Clint looked away absently before meandering up closer to the building, calling, "It's all right, Rorison. She's clear." When Maxton didn't put his gun down, Clint added, "Trust me." The dark-toned man gave a tired sigh before uncocking his gun.

"You had better have a good reason for this, Barton." Maxton propped his shoulders on the window sill and peered down at the people below. "You were supposed to come back in a heli, weren't you? What happened?"

Clint's face turned grim at that, and he said, "Can we talk about that inside? It's confidential." Natasha looked back to Clint, and she remembered that Fury had mentioned that they sent a missile after them. They must have hit the helicopter if he was heading back by truck.

Maxton's face turned understanding, and he nodded. "I'll open up. She can come in for now, and we'll tell Loki the news then as well. I'm guessing he'll want to know what happened." He disappeared from the window, coming down to the ground floor a few minutes later. He unlatched the bolt, slid it out of the way, and jerked open the doors.

The place looked like a dump on the inside as well with rats scurrying to and fro and the wooden beams creaking from the creatures upon them. Natasha was sure she smelled mold, but she wasn't going to be the first one to mention it. All of them were probably used to it by now.

"This way," Maxton motioned towards the back of the building and headed through one of the decrepit hallways. Bits of wet straw were strewn over the ground, and Natasha assumed the place was an old barn. She and Clint followed Maxton back into the depths of the facility until they came upon a steel door. The high tech lock seemed out of place from the rest of the barn as Maxton bent down to use the retina scanner.

Natasha made a mental note to either get a retina projector or to get herself uploaded in the system. It would be helpful in case she had to run when she killed Loki. The door clicked before swinging open to allow the three in. The dirt on the ground immediately cut off to reveal white linoleum flooring. Natasha's gaze drifted up to look at a whole new world.

Lines of people were placed on the walls to the left of her while dozens of workers rushed around to the right. It was an underground world that SHIELD had never even suspected to be in existence. They had known that a base probably existed somewhere, but they had thought it was in another country. The base was so close to the field that it nearly cleared the entire county from suspicion. It was deceptively smart.

"Agent Barton and... Romanoff. It's a pleasure to see you, I'm sure," Loki said hesitantly as he walked down the aisle. People parted around him as he made his way down towards them. "Although I must say, your appearance is unexpected. To what do I owe this pleasure?" It was the polite way of asking why the heck she was here since she had been one of the first to attack him a year ago.

Natasha exhaled before saying, "I'm here because Clint's here." Clint gave her a mildly incredulous look before she continued. "I'm not going to say I'm here because I want to become a worker bee because we both know that is false. It would be an insult to both of our intelligence if I suggested that. I'm here because I don't want Clint to get hurt. I can't ensure that if I'm on the other side now, can I?" She sent Loki a resolute stare as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Over the years, she had found that it was easier to lie if you mixed the truth in. She was here to protect Clint, but she was also here to kill off Loki. It was strange to be staring at the one she wanted to kill, but she knew she couldn't do it yet. There was a reason why infiltration came before assassination. She would have been asking to be killed if she went right up and attacked him now. No, she'd have to wait patiently for her time to come.

"Hmph. I suppose that is something I admire about humans," Loki sighed. "You always have this profound dedication to one another that I simply cannot understand. It's endearing." He looked at Natasha with a sad look on his face. Humans were so faithful to one another. They were blindly faithful to the very end, especially for those they loved. Why couldn't Asgardians be that way? As soon as the look came, it flickered away, and his mask was back on in place. "We'll get you introduced, I suppose. As long as you stay next to Barton, then it will be no problem."

Loki turned to Clint and said, "Report. Why did you take so long to get back?"

Clint stared blankly back at Loki before reciting, "Drone was successfully shot down. However, while meeting up at Checkpoint 28 to fly back to base, a SHIELD missile struck the helicopter. All other agents were lost at that time, including Agent Leroy."

Loki frowned at Clint's words and a line creased his forehead. He bit his lip tightly, and he shook his head, "We'll mourn the loss of Agent Leroy. She was a great woman." Natasha was personally surprised that he had enough emotion to mourn. She did respect it though, and instead of mocking Loki for it, she kept silent. No one's memory should ever be desecrated, no matter how evil they were. -

"We'll send out a team to collect their remains later." Loki ran a hand through his ebony hair before dropping his hand to his side to address Natasha. "You'll be taking Antoinette's place then. We don't have any other recruits that are as good in hand-to-hand, unfortunately. This means you'll have to get up to speed quickly. Come on, we'll get you debriefed."

Natasha nodded in return and followed after Loki when he turned to lead them down the hall. Maxton slid past her to walk beside Loki. Her eyes narrowed slightly as Maxton leaned over to whisper into Loki's ear. She couldn't help but feel that they were saying something about her, but Maxton had a hand concealing his mouth, so she couldn't lip read him.

Loki murmured something back to the man before speeding up the pace of his walk. He came to a door with six small holes in it. Natasha made a confused face as she stared at the door. What kind of locking mechanism was that?

Loki poked his index finger into the hole to the upper right. A few moments later, the door made a popping sound before swinging up before them. The Asgardian pulled his finger out before walking through the door with a blasé look on his face. Once Natasha popped through the door, she stopped to examine the lock.

"My fingers are longer than those of most mortals." Loki's voice cut into her musings, and Natasha turned back to look at him, "Only I can spring it because it's impossible to stick a curved piece of metal through there, and it's far enough so that no one else can touch it." Loki had a smug look on his face as he walked to the far side of the room.

The large metallic table in the center of the room blinked a few times as it recognized Loki's approach. A projector protruded from the table. The machine clicked and whirred before letting a blue holographic projection fill the room. "Oh, shut off." Loki snapped at the projector. "I told you to stop turning on when I come in."

The machine made a sort of whining noise before flickering back off. Natasha quickly took in the sight of the projection before it clicked off. What was that? It looked like some sort of atom. Could that have been the weapon that Clint had used to melt the bark? "Take a seat," Loki ordered tiredly.

Natasha took her spot at the table, waiting for Loki to speak. The man in question leaned on the back of his chair as he looked at the people in the room. "Rorison and Barton already know this, but I suppose it can't hurt to elaborate." Loki waved his hand absently before saying, "As you probably know, I plan on uniting the globe under a single force. However, that force will not be me."

Natasha's eyes widened at this. World domination was supposed to be so that a person could possess the entire planet, right? If so, then why would he just give away all of his work to someone else? It made no sense!

"A few days after everything is united, I shall perform a process called 'de-evolution.'" Loki rested his hands on his fists and stared right into Natasha's eyes. "When this happens, I shall die. That will be all. I won't explode or take people out with me. Its only purpose is to separate my soul from my body to prevent my regeneration."

Natasha shook her head slowly in denial. What was he talking about? "You can't be serious? Why would you do that?" she exclaimed incredulously. It wasn't against her plans to have him die, but admittedly, finding him willing to die was something unexpected. It was completely out of the character she had developed for him. She hated it when people acted out of character, and Loki was violating all of those rules in a single go.

"Why would I do all of this?" Loki said with a wave of his hand. "I am to die in any case, or at the very least I will rot in an Asgardian cell. Death has no hold on me. I want to do something to help this planet."

"I will become the catalyst for change. Midgard is too precious to suffer like this. Too many wars ravage this planet, and Midgardians don't realize how precious their environment is." Loki closed his green eyes before sighing, "Asgard isn't what you think. You're born the same way you die. There is no chance for any change in position. Thor was born into being god of thunder. He never earned his role if you thought that. It just happens. Midgard is so free. I'm jealous at times."

Natasha wondered if this was the reason that Loki had always said that he hated humans. From his perspective, they must throw away so many chances that he would never get. Natasha almost sympathized with the man, but she cleared away the thought. He desired to do something good, but the way he was doing it was wrong. He was taking away the free will of the people around him which was something Natasha would never forgive.

_I was wrong about you, Loki. You are not evil, but you do evil things. But, _Natasha's eyes flashed open as she looked up at Loki, _you still must die_

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! (: Loki's intentions sure are a puzzle aren't they? Remember, his life is next to purposeless at this point. A part of him has already given up at ever being loved, so the last thing he wants to do with his life is cultivate a world so a child like him would never be raised. Because Midgard is that precious. (:**

**This story is over halfway over so I'll try to keep these coming out! If you've read this far, I assume you're enjoying it and I hope that you'll enjoy it to the very end! :D**

**Thanks for reading! By the way... Review! D8 I get lonely~**


	14. Lost and Wounded

You took it with you when you left  
These scars are just a trace  
Now it wanders lost and wounded  
This heart that I misplaced  
**-Hymn for the Missing by RED**

Loki and Maxton had left the room a few minutes ago. After Loki had finished his little speech, he had decided to let her think over what he had said. And boy, had he said enough to make Natasha's head whirl. She leaned forward on the table and propped her hands up on her palms. Either way, Loki planned on dying, but it was the timing that counted. It wouldn't do her any good to kill Loki after he had already taken over the world, right? That meant that she'd have to be quick about it.

Who knew when he'd begin the take over? He hadn't even begun to explain that to her yet. All she knew was the vague concept. The sooner the better, she supposed. But how would she be able to escape, even if she did manage to kill him? It couldn't be obvious, so maybe a staged attack by S.H.I.E.L.D.? But she was out of contact with them for now, how would she do that? She gave a ragged sigh and glared at the center projector. She needed something to take her anger out on, and there was no punching bag in sight which made it the obvious target.

"Now, now, Nat. I don't know what the projector did to you, but stop glaring at it." Clint quipped as he leaned against the wall. He crossed his arms and quirked a brow at her. He had known her to have particularly explosive tendencies, so it was admittedly strange to see her reserved. It wasn't to say that he wasn't glad to have her with him, but he was still confused. A small part of him was yelling that she was suspicious, and he should be on guard. The other part of him was glad to have her around and was telling him to talk to her some more because it had been so long. Why did he even want socialization anyways?

He tilted his head to the side as he thought. Talking to people wasn't really needed in the scheme of things. A human only needed to sleep, drink, and eat, right? So why was he feeling this desire to be closer to Natasha? He sighed softly and looked back over towards the redhead. She confused him so much, no one else made him feel like this. At first he thought it was just a girl thing, but none of the women in Loki's organization had brought up feelings remotely like this. Natasha was special.

One time, he sat down and wrote down all the ways to describe her. He had made a list of why he believed that he liked her, and then made a list of the ways to describe the other women in the organization. There weren't too many differences between them all on paper, so he was confused. Everything could be told with numbers and little symbols, the rising of the sun, the budding of the plant, everything ran with little numbers, but emotions. Emotions ran a different course and it confused him to no end. Why was it like this? He didn't understand.

He recalled the times they had spent in Budapest together, and with them he remembered a light-hearted feeling. It was that rare feeling of happiness again. Something about Natasha made him happy and that confused him. Nothing had made him feel that way for the longest of times, but she always seemed to be able to do it. It really was beginning to get to him. Was she the close friend that he needed or was she going to be an emotional liability? Clint didn't think he could tell the difference.

"I'm not glaring at it. I'm projecting negative thoughts in its direction, but it's different from glaring." Natasha rolled her eyes and flopped back into her chair. "So, tell me, why do you think Loki is doing this? What is your opinion on the matter, my peer?" She snarked the last detail after Loki had so kindly referred to absolutely everyone as being her peer. It was an annoying detail she was unlikely to forget for a while.

"He wants to bring peace to the world," Clint stated blankly. Wasn't that obvious?

"No, Clint. Don't you think there is a secondary purpose of some sort? You can't really think he's going to commit suicide at the end of this, do you?" Natasha asked incredulously. Had Clint really taken all of Loki's words at first impression? It seemed as if he hadn't read into it at all!

"I don't believe so. It's all logical," Clint said with a shrug. He didn't see what the problem was.

"Logic only gets you so far, Clint. You need to calculate the emotional desires into it as well, right? No one is that willing to commit suicide especially if they plan to have the world at their fingertips. I would bet you almost anything that he doesn't really plan to do that," Natasha said with a roll of her eyes.

Clint frowned at her words. What did she mean by logic would only take him so far? Logic was the answer to everything, wasn't it? He had been trained enough to know that emotions were for the weak, right? If Loki was strong then why would he still retain them? Then again, Natasha was strong and she definitely had strong feelings. Did this mean she was right about Loki? No, that couldn't be. She was new to the organization, and she was probably just misguided. She'd adjust eventually.

"You heard him though, Nat. Don't you think anyone would get a little tired of living after a few millennium have passed?" Clint felt uncomfortable. She was so confusing at times. It nearly drove him crazy.

"He seemed perfectly spritely to me a year ago. I wouldn't doubt that he was still plugging along," Natasha said with a shrug. She rolled back her chair and walked over to Clint. She stepped over to him and looked him in the eye. "Clint, what's wrong with you?" Clint raised a questioning eyebrow, and Natasha elaborated, "You're different. You're just so... trusting. You're always talking about logic and what makes sense. You don't joke around like you used to."

She ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. "You just aren't you anymore. You're so serious. Why is that?"

Clint looked towards the ground and said, "I don't know." He had noticed the change too and it unnerved him. He remembered joking around with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and laughing at the silliest things, but now the only thing on his mind was business. Get the job done and get it done quickly. There was nothing else to say. "I'm sorry though."

"Stop apologizing already," Natasha huffed. She leaned her forward against his and sighed. "I missed you."

Clint swallowed as he felt something in his chest. He clamped his eyes shut as the feeling overtook him. It bubbled up inside of him and for some reason, it almost made him want to cry. He didn't get it. It wasn't something that could be explained by numbers, but he liked it. "I missed you too, Nat."

Natasha closed her eyes and held back a sigh. His voice felt so empty to her ears. Why couldn't there be more expression in it? She wanted to feel that he returned some sort of sentiment, but instead she just felt this nothingness. She closed her eyes against his chest and clenched a quiet fist. This was all Loki's fault. Clint had only changed after he was attacked by Loki, so Loki had to have done something to him. The Asgardian was a sorcerer wasn't he? Maybe he cast some spell or incantation that forced Clint into becoming like this. It was the only way because Clint never would have done this on his own.

Clint put a hand on Natasha's head and patted her awkwardly. Something told him that it was the right thing to do in this sort of situation, but it still felt so awkward. Was it supposed to be a comforting sort of motion or was it a figment of his imagination? A voice inside of his head told him that he should be trying to comfort her in some way and that it wasn't good that she was feeling like this. He couldn't say that he knew why he was supposed to comfort her or why she would need comfort, but the voice prodded him to do it anyways.

The two of them kept silently to their own thoughts. One of them was plotting to kill a man that had ruined one of her closest friend's life while the other was trying to discover what it felt to feel. What the both of them shared was their despair. Because they both felt that they were missing something important, but neither of them knew if they would ever gain it back again.

* * *

**Author's Note: This chapter is short, but I wanted to get it out. I figured out what will happen in each individual chapter for the rest of this story, so never fear! I plan six more chapters after this and then an epilogue. (: I am going to camp next week, so I will not be around. I will try to post updates, but I might not be able to since I try to write longer chapters for this. Sorry guys, but I'll definitely be back the week after! Much appreciated, Xana.**

**Review and tell me what you think?**


	15. Crossed that Line

Can hold my breath only for a little while  
'til reality starts sinking in  
once again I'm settling for second best  
turn the pages skip to the end  
to where I swore that I would try  
since the last time I crossed that line  
**-It Only Hurts by Default**

The weeks passed, and Natasha couldn't find a single opportunity to kill Loki. She was beginning to reach her wit's end with the man. Just when she thought she had his personality down in careful little notes, he decided to screw with her and act out of her guidelines! How was she going to predict his responses and therefore exploit them if he kept on scurrying around! She ripped yet another page out of her notebook and walked over to the trashcan where she promptly tore it into over three dozen pieces.

The paper fluttered down and rested along with all the other paper scraps from her failed plans. She didn't particularly worry about someone reading the notes. That was the purpose of using a SHIELD cipher that alternated every other line. It was nearly impossible to decode, and she liked it that way. But that wasn't the point, the point was that all of her plans were for naught.

She looked to the clock on the wall and sighed. A meeting was going to come to session in seven minutes. She ran a hand through her hair and tucked the short locks behind her ears before standing up. Natasha exited her room and edged her way down the thin hallways. She tried to stop herself from sneezing as she picked up the pace. She was pretty sure that she was allergic to some sort of chemical inside of here and it was about it drive her crazy.

When she walked into the meeting room, she had expended two portable packs of tissues and was about to hit her second. She headed over to her place around the table and pulled out her seat. The spy collapsed into her chair and leaned her head on the table. Stupid allergies were going to be the end of her... "Nat, you ok?" Clint tapped her on the shoulder, but he only received a noncommittal grunt in response.

The clock tolled 11:15 and Loki strode into the room. The look on his face told the room that he was jittery. The man had his face furrowed in a small frown and he chewed tightly on his lip. Something was obviously going down. Natasha looked up from her misery to stare at her "leader". She couldn't allow allergies to spoil her chance to find a weakness in her enemy.

"I see you are all here, so we will begin," Loki said while running a hand through his hair. It was a nervous habit that Natasha had recognized within days of being around him. Some people clenched their hands, but Loki toyed with his hair.

"I have kept mission details under lock and key for the past few weeks, but soon our plan will begin." So that was what he was nervous about. It meant that he wasn't as prepared for death as he claimed to be, but he was thinking about it as something that had to be done. Maybe he wasn't as impenetrable as he led people to believe.

"Our attack will begin at the American capitol, Washington D.C. in two days' time. We will capture the president and make it symbolic for the rest of the nations that plan to oppose us. That, and with the United States out of play it will be harder to gather a coalition against us. America is supposed to be legendary meddlers in business that is not their own," Loki said with a snort. He shook his head before continuing, "Rorison will head the Blitzkrieg Squad and take the Federal Bureau of Intelligence Agency out. They're stupid enough to let their location be plastered all over the internet, so I doubt you will have much trouble."

Maxton nodded once before leaning back into his chair. He knew his duty, and he wouldn't ever question orders. If this was what he was best suited for then he'd do it and it was as simple as that.

"Barton, I want you and Romanoff to take the Capitol. Burn the Library of Congress if you want. It's symbolic, but of little purpose to us," Loki said with a wave of his hand. "Let me know what you decide before you do it though. It would be a nuisance if I suddenly looked out the window to see a large fire which shouldn't have been there. " Loki rolled his eyes and stared at the center of the table. "You can turn on now."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the projector flashed on and a map appeared in the air. Lots of blue buildings glowed on the screen until slowly a few of the figures turned red and other purple and green. "Rorison, the Capitol's position is outlined in red. Barton, Romanoff, your targets are in purple. My target is in green."

"And what is your target, if I may ask?" Natasha asked as she scanned the monitor. It even had streets locked into it and possible pathways marked out in their respective colors!

"The White House of course," Loki said in a slightly incredulous voice. He made it seem as if it was the obvious choice. "You will all meet me outside because it will take longer to reach the White House than the other targets, so they will have time to prepare. Hopefully it won't be too much of a nuisance though." He picked up a pen and twirled it around his fingers. "So, any questions?"

Natasha lazily raised her hand and said, "What squad do we take?"

"The Saber Squad and the Spear Squad. I trust you have been practicing with swords since your arrival here?" Loki asked in his blasé voice.

"I have been doing so, though I don't see the purpose. I am better with guns in any case," Natasha replied with a shake of her head.

"You can take out opponents faster with the particle," said Loki as he rubbed his temples.

"I know, but dual wielding semi-automatics allows me to take out long distance opponents... How about I bring it in the sheath, but only use it if it comes down to hand to hand?" Natasha bargained.

"Fine. Just do whatever you want, but make sure it works," Loki snapped back.

"Right." Good, she would be able to take her pistols. The plan was running through her tired brain. She'd split off from Clint early on after faking an attack on the Capitol. Clint could do it seriously because she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him, but she'd head to the White House almost immediately. She'd kill him there and end this all. It would be easy enough to slip back into the crowd and rejoin S.H.I.E.L.D.. This would work. This would work very well indeed.

Clint stared at the hologram and felt a foreign feeling rush him. It was reminiscent of foreboding. He wondered if he should speak out, but no one else seemed to feel what he felt. Heck, Natasha looked excited. If that was the case that it was probably nothing. He trusted her decision on the matter. After being partnered with her for years, it was hard not to trust her at this point.

He looked over towards Natasha one more time and bit his lip. He hoped dearly that she was right. He didn't think that he could take separating from her again. The event had made him feel queer. A small part of him told him that it was normal, and it was how he was supposed to feel, but the other part overwhelmed it and called it a pitiful weakness. But... He still wanted to be with Natasha, so was he wanting to become weak? It didn't quite make sense to him. He raised a head to his forehead and closed his eyes as the two parts of him shouted back and forth. Clint wished they could be quiet and leave him alone; he had battle plans to figure out!

"Clint? Are you alright?" Clint's eyes snapped open as he turned to look at Natasha. He nodded once before the blank look returned in his eyes, and he went back to business. A distraction was all his inner self needed to quiet the rioting voice. He had to stay focused and thinking too much was a deterrent. Wasn't it something like: "There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous"? So logically, did it follow that he shouldn't think? Oh goodness, it was probably counterproductive to even think. He rubbed his forehead one more before putting his hand back on the table.

"I'm fine." It was what he always said. A formality that everyone had grown to accept, but fine rarely ever meant that the person was fine. It just meant that the person thought it wouldn't be pleasant to say how they really felt.

* * *

**Author's Note: 6 chapters left after this! Woohoo! That means I'll be done by September at the latest! ;D I know you're excited. I'm going to try and pull the story up to 40,000 words when we get to the battle scenes. Wish me luck!**

**Thank you so much for all of my readers that have continued to support me! Could you click the little blue button at the bottom of the page and send me a review? It really just gives me that burst of energy I need to continue writing. Goodness knows, I need it. Thanks much!**

**As a final note/shameless advertising: I'm setting up a writer's group called the Tesseract Project! We're going to be a group of Avengers authors that critique and give advice to fellow members. This way we can all** **get advice while exposing ourselves to different styles of writing. We're currently looking for members, so PM me if you'd like to apply! It's best if you have a previous story uploaded, so that OwlMay and I can see your writing style though. :) Thanks for reading!**


	16. Stubbornness and Pride

All this pain and devastation  
How it tortures me inside  
All the innocent who suffer  
From your stubbornness and pride...  
**-Plagues by Ralph Fiennes and Amick Byran**

"I told you, we are doing all we can! You cannot ask for anything more of my men," Fury bellowed. The holographic screens flickered on the wall before the faces of the Council appeared once more. The woman gave a sigh while shaking her head.

"If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers. My dear Commander Fury, your orders are obviously not being obeyed. Weeks have passed and no evidence of progress has been shown to us. You are being relieved of your duty corresponding to this mission. We will take this job over for you as it is clear to us that your comradery with former Agent Barton is dulling your skills," she said patronizingly. It was if she was talking to a child.

"With all due respect, no," Fury retorted. "These are still my men, and I am not going to let you take them."

"With all due respect, we'd like to see you try," replied the man on the right. "We have already scrambled all the codes. You have no authorization key to any of the armed deployments and the only one who has the keys is an agent chosen by us. We have control now, Fury. Loki's return is too much of a threat, and this is too weak of a response. Your duty will be returned to you once this is over. I advise that you take leave for now. We have no need for you currently."

Fury growled and yelled, "You are making a mistake! You have never fought Loki before, I have. Your actions could have killed everyone in Manhattan and still you have not learned your lesson? The Avengers are doing their be-"

"About that. The Avengers all have a personal stake within Loki's army. We do not know where Thor's true allegiances lie, nor can we trust the rest of the Avengers. We have already seen the Black Widow run off to join Barton. What makes you think we can trust the rest of them? They are all unnecessarily powerful and could easily rebel against us." One of the other Council said. "Taking this into account, we have already begun distribution of the anti-alien weapons based off the Tesseract. We took enough notes to be able to replicate the power source with the Higgs Benson."

"What? You've got to be joking! That's the exact wrong thing to do! The world needs the Avengers more than ever and you are making them into villains! Do you want them to turn against us?"

"So you do admit that they are volatile," The woman said with an arched brow. "If they were truly loyal they would let themselves be detained until this is all over. They are all emotional liabilities, and we can't risk that right now."

"What I'm saying is that trust is a two-way street," Fury hissed. "You can't expect them to be mindlessly loyal unless we are loyal to them. We show no trust in them if we lock them up whenever Loki comes walking around."

"It will be fine, Fury. Your advice is no longer necessary and we will take it from here on out. Go on leave," The man on the left said shortly. "This meeting is over." The connection cut out, and Fury was left staring at the empty monitors.

Fury stood there for a moment before grabbing the paperweight on his desk and hurtling it at the monitors.

-Just One Moment-

"Detonate." Loki's voice crackled through the comm link as Clint bent down to look through the periscope. The lens slowly ascended through the water until it broke at the surface. The continent appeared around him as he scanned the waterfront. Lines of boats filled the sides of the broad river, they would have to be gotten rid of.

A few of the workers flicked on switches at Loki's command, and the sound of the torpedoes being loaded sounded throughout the sub. The banging silenced everyone in the sub. They had all been prepared for this moment for weeks, if not months in advance, but it was something else to hear the torpedoes being readied. They were really going to do this now. Clint looked away from the periscope to see his group of forty crowded into the small room. The sub wasn't particularly made for transport, but it what they were afforded, and Clint knew it would do its job. The torpedoes clicked into position and a flashing green light appeared on the monitors. The agents tapped rapidly on their keyboards as the front monitor began to calibrate the launch codes. "3, 2, 1, Firing."

The silvery missile shot through the water, and Clint closed his eyes as the seconds ticked away. His heart was cringing with disgust at what they were doing. They were firing at torpedo at a civilian population. They were innocents. While Clint knew it was necessary for their declaration of war, deep down he knew that it wasn't wrong. He couldn't explain it, but he knew. And then the torpedo exploded. The submarine was rocked the torpedo struck the line of boats. Wreckage flew in across the water before clumping together in a smoldering wreckage. Clint grabbed onto the periscope to stabilize himself as the shock wave hit the sub, sending it tumbling over every which way. As soon as the shocks subsided he yelled, "Surface! The attack has begun!"

Clint looked over to see Natasha snake a hand down to her gun holster. A look of apprehension crossed her face before fierce determination took over. Nat never was one to worry about anything after all. Clint took a deep breath in before the hydraulics in the hatch released, and the door swung open. "Let's go, Nat," he said as he tapped her on the shoulder. He grabbed onto the metal ladder and pulled himself up to the surface. He crawled out onto the top of the metal machine and quickly ran to the side where he jumped onto one of the piles of wreckage that was floating in the water. He leaped from piece to piece as he made his way over to the waterfront.

He blocked the screams out from his ears as he moved onto the pier. He tried to forget who gave the screams and what they looked like as he reached back and snapped the bow out from its sheath. As he pulled the first arrow back from his quiver, he thought nothing. He didn't even think anything as he saw human flesh burn away to leave a hulk of what was once a man. Was the man even a soldier? Clint didn't know. What he did know was that this was his mission, and he would succeed.

Natasha flipped out one of her semi-automatics and held it for a moment. This was not a battle. It wasn't even a brawl. She clenched the weapon tightly in her fist before holding it up and firing. She was massacring innocents now. She silently prayed for their souls, but she had to keep up this farce. They would be avenged later. Now she could only hope that the armed soldiers would hurry up and get there. A piece of her heart chipped away with each innocent life she took, but it had to be done, right?

"The Saber and Spear Squads are to move east through the Benjamin Berreker Park. You're only 0.8 miles away from your target," the strategist ordered through the comm links.

"Roger that," said Natasha as she sent a fist flying into the head of one of her targets. It would give the man a concussion, but at least he wasn't dead. Natasha turned to give a brief salute to Maxton. The Indian man was in the middle of running a man through with his bladed gauntlet. He nodded back before running off northeast to follow his own commands.

She shoved a woman out of her way as she ran down the paved streets. She vanished into the throng of screaming people as she dove in an out of their flailing limbs. The concrete shook beneath her as hundreds of people ran in all directions as no one was sure where the attack was coming from. It was pitiful in a way. Natasha nodded to one of her teammates as the man sliced someone with the edge of his sword as he ran past. Natasha concealed her look of disgust as the injured person let out a screech before slowly melting away. It was an arbitrary kill. They had already terrified the crowds, why did that person have to die?

"We're getting a response from the military! Hacking into their communication lines now." Thank goodness. They were finally reacting. She would be fighting against her own comrades, but at least they would be armed. Killing an unarmed person was different than killing a combatant. She didn't have that gut feeling of revulsion when facing armed foes, but she did feel ill at the thought of killing her friends. But for it all to end, this would have to be done.

She pulled her other semi out from her hip holster and checked to make sure they were loaded. "0.2 miles away! Military are converging on the Capitol! You have company!"

Natasha didn't respond, but instead took a deep breath. She cleared her mind of all thoughts and launched into battle. A row of policemen with riot shields were huddled in lines outside of the Capitol while men with fully-automatics stood behind them. Obviously they weren't going to take any chances. Natasha's eyes flickered up to the dome before narrowing.

"We got snipers!" She yelled as she whipped up her gun to the people up top. There was a limit to how well she could aim from such a distance, and she knew it, but it would be enough to make her look like she was trying. She fired a few shots before she saw one of the spear wielders heft his spear over his shoulder before hurtling it. The spear seemed to move in slow motion as it flew through the air before hitting the stone border just in front of the snipers.

The stone melted away and revealed the soldiers that had been hiding behind it. The snipers rushed to bridge the gap, but not before another spear wielder saw the opening and threw another spear up into the crowd. Natasha bit her lip and turned away from the scene as bloodcurdling screams filled the air. She looked down and saw holes punctured through the row of riot shields. Soldiers from the Saber Squad had penetrated through the defenses and were attacking the policemen from behind while taking out a few of the fully-automatics on the way. It was pure chaos. It was the chance she needed.

She took a few steps back before turning and running away from the Capitol. She had to get to the White House. She pushed through the throngs of screaming civilians. Sweat began to slip down her face as she heaved for her breath. She couldn't stop now; she had to hurry. She had spent the past weeks in Loki's operation all for this. There was no way she could stop now. Natasha would kill him.

Her red hair was plastered against her face as she shoved through the crowd. When she was pushed to the ground by a screaming woman, Natasha wrapped her hands around her head as the stampeding people trampled along her. She hissed in pain as a man stepped on her stomach and coughed as another kicked her in the stomach. Natasha spread her hands out to create a girth around her and scrambled up from the ground.

When people didn't clear off, Natasha grabbed her gun and shot it off into the air. That got their attention. The people immediately scrambled away as she pulled her way through the crowd. She didn't have much time. If Maxton or Clint made it to the White House before her then she probably wouldn't be able to take Loki out without one of them killing her. She didn't like to think that Clint would kill her, but she had to expect anything right now. "Loki, it's going to be you and me. Bring it."

* * *

**Author's Note: Only five chapters left! How exciting! :D These chapters were a bit chaotic since they were plugged out to be done before camp, but I hope you enjoyed them! We're getting to the climax! This is going to be so much fun! I spent nearly a week planning out how they would attack and where. It isn't really shown in this chapter, but I'll be doing a bit more of that later. If you really want to know: They went up the Washington Channel and through Benjamin Banneker Park. They hit the Capitol while Maxton split off for the Federal Bureau. (: **

**Review please? I get a bit lonely writing these even though I enjoy them. xD**


	17. Drinking Your Pain

All your secrets crawl inside  
You keep them safe, you let them hide  
You feel them drinking in your pain  
To kill the memories  
**-Lie to Me by RED**

It was reminiscent of Germany from a year ago. The screaming throngs of people pushed away from him as he glided down the halls. This was one of the things he never understood about Midgardians. Sometimes, a figure of power would come and they would bow at this feet. Other times, they would run in terror. Now, it seemed it seemed they had chosen to do the latter.

The black clad man strolled down the carpeted halls until he stopped outside the room marked: Diamond Ballroom. He grabbed the brass handle and gave it a turn before walking into the large chamber. Politicians and pages were all huddled along the far wall. They has upturned the oak tables that they had formerly sat at to create a makeshift shield. Loki raises an eyebrow. Well, at least they were putting up some front of resistance. It was rather pathetic though.

"Goodness now, I only need to bring one of you. Which one shall it be?" He looked along the crowd of senators before grabbing a clean-shaven man from the bunch. The senator's skin was deathly pale as Loki plucked him out from behind his so-called protection. Loki, though he was weak than Thor, had still been raised to be a warrior of Asgard. Picking up a man of two hundred pounds was nothing compared to a frost giant of five hundred.

"My dear Senator Lioza, shall we go on a trip to the White House? I'm sure that it is the perfect time to pitch him an idea on healthcare," said Loki clemently. The black haired man shook his head violently and Loki laughed. "I'm glad you agree. Let's go."

Loki turned away from the rest of the representatives and proceeded to drag Lioza by the back of his coat. He prodded the slightly ajar door with his staff to have it swing open before him. He was about to leave when a foolishly brave man shouted from behind him. "You coward! You will never get away with this! Mark my words, you'll never live to enjoy this massacre."

Loki cast a dull look over his shoulder an replied, "It's all part of the plan." He raised the scepter up and a swirling blue light grew at the tip. The Asgardian flicked the staff at the man and the ball of energy smashed through the tables. "But remember, your life is in my hands. I may be a coward and a monster, but I am a winning coward and a monster."

Loki had never won, but now he had to win. He would win. Too much had been invested in this plan for him to lose now.

He dragged the man out of the Diamond Ballroom before shutting the door behind him. He looked down at the cowering man with a skeptical glance before sighing. This was one of the reasons why he needed to hand off the reins of Midgard once he passed. No one would even look at him without panicking and fretting for their lives. He hauled the man to his feet and tapped his scepter against the man's chest. Lioza's brown eyes began to glow a haunted shade of blue.

Moments later, the man straightened out and stood calmly before Loki. "I see... I will bring you there then. Shall we go?" The quaver from his voice was gone, and Lioza now stood before him with the confidence that won him his seat in the first place. Loki didn't regret using the scepter on him, after all, it enlightened, not controlled.

"Yes. Make haste for we can't be late for our appointment."

* * *

Natasha made her way through the crowd in a rush to get to the White House. A crackle in her ear piece notified her that a message was incoming. She raised a hand to her ear and tapped it to listen in on the conversation. "Proceeding to the White House. What is the status of the Knife Squad?" Loki's voice came through the link. So he wasn't there yet. She couldn't show up before him, so she'd have to slow down. She slowed to a quick walk as she made her way through the crowd.

She looked to the right to see smoke coiling up into the sky. The air smelled of the burning Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thousands of documents were turned to ash as Maxton and his squad set fire to their enemies. Natasha paused for a moment to look at the wreckage. Even if she managed to defeat Loki, at what cost would it be? She had convinced herself that she had to wait to kill him, but should she have moved earlier? Could she have worked harder to find a way so all of this didn't have to happen? Everyone didn't have to die and all of these buildings didn't need to burn. They were just doing it because it was a _part of her plan_.

She clenched her fists as the people shifted around her. It had to be this way. It had to be this way. She repeated it over and over in her head like a mantra. She may have been an assassin, but there was a difference between killing a mafioso and killing a little old lady with a cat. One of them was evil and one of them was innocent. She had promised herself that she would never kill an innocent unless it absolutely had to be that way, and now, hundreds had to be dead. She had already watched over thirty taken out and that was only two of the squads. There had to be many more that had died.

This had better be worth it in the end. She clucked her tongue. If Clint still ended up being a mind blipped idiot, then this would all be for naught. She didn't think she could be able to live with that because there had to be something won after all of this. People couldn't just die for nothing to be gained. A Pyrrhic victory was the last thing she wanted, but it seemed like the only thing she'd ever get.

* * *

"We're here," said Lioza as he tapped the digits into the computer controlled lock. The monitor flashed green and prompted a retinal scan, one which Lioza quickly obliged to. As the monitor scanned the younger man's eye, Loki looked up and down the hall to see if anyone was coming. It had been fairly easy just to waltz into the White House. Body guards had apparently been detached to guard the president and subsequently, guards had abandoned all other posts. It seemed like a flawed way of protection to be perfectly honest. And because he looked like a senator in his black garb, no one questioned why he and the senator were walking together. It was a curious phenomena. If you look like you know what you're doing, no one will bother to ask you what you are doing.

"Senator Lioza? What are you doing here?" The president's face appeared on the monitor and cut off the retinal scan.

"I'm here to talk to you about what's going on. We need to act quickly to save all the other representatives. Only I was able to get away," Lioza said emphatically. Loki raised an eyebrow. Thank goodness there were no politicians in Asgard. If there were, Loki would have had competition for the god of lies.

"All right, we'll let you in. These assailants have jammed our frequency, so we're trying to create another one. I'll finish updating you when you come inside." The monitor clicked off and steam issued from the door as the bolts were slowly pulled out of the way. Lioza looked over to Loki before taking a step back from the door. The Asgardian twirled the scepter in his hands before gathering a large ball of energy at the end of his spear. As soon as the door opened a crack, he fired.

The guard at the entrance was blown back and was sent crashing through the window. Loki moved quickly and took two others out in the same fashion. It was lucky the Oval Office had so many windows. At the table, the president was shaking like a leaf and he had backed his chair away from the table. A few of his secretaries were skittering away into the back room, letting out shrieks as they went.

"Lioza! What is the meaning of this?" The president demanded. His voice was authoritative, but his eyes told a different story. His fingers were turning pale as he clung onto the arm rests of his chair. Loki rolled his eyes as he shot the final guard. Was the president delusional enough to believe that he actually had the power in this situation?

"Let me answer for my dear friend," said Loki, putting his foot up on the table. "This has now developed into a hostage situation. With you, of course, being the hostage. Be a good man and set up the broadcast module in the wall. You'll find the frequency 982094 is active."

* * *

**Author's Note: Ok. I lied. One more chapter. I wanted to finish this and update kind of on time so I need to make another chapter to make up for what I wasn't able to add in. ;3; Sorry about that, guys! Forgive me? 8'D I just got off of debate camp and I feel like someone stabbed me with a chainsaw. I need more sleep. /goes back to bed/**

**Review please? I get really lonely writing and it makes it harder to write like that. ;3; **


	18. Fixed at Zero

It's got me mixed up, trying not to give up  
Tell me there's a way to get out of here  
Oh, fixed at zero  
**-Fixed At Zero by VersaEmerge**

Loki turned towards the monitor with a calm look on his face. Yes, he had just kidnapped the president, but he wasn't particularly worried about it. It was all according to plan. He cast a look over his shoulder to see Lioza strapping the president to his chair to prevent his escape. The man had been more useful that he had expected, but once he had seen the truth, it must have been enough to convince him.

Loki turned back to the camera and flicked a small red switch on the side. The screen crackled on and a touch screen popped up from the side. A green button flickered and read: begin transmission. Loki reached a pale finger out and tapped it and the command was sent. He could hear the clicking of electricity as it ran through the wires, sending signals to a satellite to begin the transmission. He took a deep breath in before breathing out. He had spent a lot of effort getting this far. It would be a bloody nuisance if he messed up his rhetoric.

Red digits appeared on the screen, counting down until the message began. Five, Loki straightened his coat. Four, Lioza finished tying the gag around the president's mouth. Three, Loki readjusted the scepter in his hand. Two, Loki looked directly into the monitor and planned his words in his head. One, the number flashed on the screen before disappearing. Loki's image filled the screen and the man in question knew he was now live.

"This broadcast is coming from the White House. My name is Loki, and I am burdened with glorious purpose. I am here to unite the world and prevent strife from continuing. For too long, this planet has been tortured by the battles fought upon its surface. I will put an end to this through the reunification of the world. If there are no enemies against good, there can be no quarrel. Soon, all will be at peace."

"I beg you not to think of me as some pathetic terrorist. Terrorists are those that do not have the power to take anything of worth. I do have that power." Loki stepped away and waved his hand behind him where the president sat, bound and gagged. "As you see, getting this far was no obstacle for me. The White House, one of the strongholds of America, was taken down within mere minutes. Even millions of dollars in technology cannot keep me out, for we are strong."

The president tried to shake his head, but Loki raised his hand to still him. He didn't hurt the man, but he needed as little distraction as possible. "This broadcast is a message to the world. Join me, and you will be fighting to help reunify the world. One last bloodshed is all that stands between a world of chaos and the world of freedom. Will you stay back and let the world fall apart and dissolve into hundreds of wars and massacres or will you act? Time cannot wait for any man. Keep that in mind."

Loki flipped the switch and the monitor flashed off, signaling the end of the transmission.

* * *

"What on earth!" Natasha heard of a shout and looked to the side to see a tv shop alongside the road. All the screens were covered with a picture of Loki. That meant that he had already reached the White House. She could pick up the pace then. Heck, if she was on TV, she had to worry about being too late. She took in a deep breath before breaking off into a run towards the White House. She swerved in and out of the tumultuous crowds as she headed towards the office.

The building loomed in the distance as Natasha closed the gap. She ran across the green grass, ignoring the signs telling her not to run. The organization agents let her through upon sight, not suspecting what she was about to do. She supposed that was good, but in a way it also made her feel guilty. Her betrayal wasn't even a possibility in their minds. It made her job safer, but she was still human. The Black Widow didn't do her job without feeling guilt. Manipulating others was never particularly fun.

She saw a door ajar and knew that it had to lead to the Oval Office. No other room would have been left open for fear of a hostage escaping. She slowed herself down to a walk to silence her footsteps and crept towards the opening. "Keep that in mind." Loki was just finishing the end of his speech.

She swallowed and slipped her gun out of her holster. She peered from around the corner to see another man standing near Loki. An accomplice? She hadn't calculated that into her plans. She bit her lip and tried to figure out what she could do. Natasha could kill the man, but that was not something that was preferable. She flipped open a pouch on her leg and brought out a small stun gun.

Natasha wasn't a fan of stun guns, but if it would save the other man's life, she'd do it. Stun guns weren't that easy to aim, but luckily, all you had to do was hit the target. It wasn't rocket science. She held the stun gun in her left hand, and her semi-automatic in her right. She took a deep breath before stepping into the room and firing at Lioza.

The probes zoomed through the air before hitting Lioza in the chest, immediately dropping him to the ground. Loki whirled around to see Natasha pointing a gun at his head. He straightened up and the shock disappeared from his face. "Agent Romanoff."

"Loki." She said smoothly. She didn't know what to expect from this man. With a flick of his fingers, he could probably send her flying into the wall. She kept a careful eye on him as he readjusted himself.

Silently, the two shared looked before Loki said, "Look behind you." Natasha raised an eyebrow. Was he really expecting her to fall for that? That was when she heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled back.

She maintained the gun's position, but cast a look back to see Clint.

* * *

**Author's Note: A short chapter. D: This would have been merged onto the previous one, but I had neither the time nor the inspiration. My muse for all writing has drifted out of me and all I can do it stare off into the distance...**

**Zoey Bluish: You aren't bothering me! And in this story, Clint was never really brainwashed. He in compromised in a sense that he supports Loki, but he isn't blinded or anything. And I can't tell when she'll get him back! ;o That would be spoiling!**

**Thanks for the reviews and continued support!**


	19. Death in Hate

There's hate for life, and death in hate  
Emerging from the new caliphate  
The victors of this war on fear  
Will rule for the next thousand years  
**-Europa by Globus**

"What are you doing?" Clint barely murmured out the words as he felt his arms begin to shake. His arms were rigid as he kept the arrow firmly knocked. His mind was racing. Why was Natasha pointing a gun at Loki? Wasn't she on their side now or was it all a lie? It couldn't have been that she manipulated him to get into the organization to kill Loki, could it? His calm persona fell away and his fear and despair shone clearly through his eyes. He had been so glad when Natasha had joined them, but now he didn't know. Was she betraying them?

"Clint..." Natasha whispered softly. He had found her before she had taken out Loki. This was not good. She looked from Loki to the arrow that was pointed directly at her skull. She should have remembered how efficient Clint always was. He was just proving again how he was one of the former top agents at S.H.I.E.L.D. When she looked at the arrow, she noticed it was a net type. A bit of hope kindled inside of her. If he wasn't using a particle arrow, then he probably wasn't out to kill her. The shake in his arms told that much more. "It's not what you think, Clint." Was all she could say.

"What else can it be?" Clint kept the arrow knocked back, but he knew that it was wobbling. He didn't want to hurt Natasha, but he always didn't want Loki dead. Hadn't Natasha seen what he had seen? Why was she still trying to fight against them all? He didn't want it to be this way, but he didn't know what else to do.

"I hate seeing you under his thumb like this! He's done something to you, Clint. I want the Clint Barton that I have known for all these years to return to me. You don't think like you used to. Heck, you don't move like you used to. Something is wrong, Clint. If killing him is the only way to fix it, then I will. I'm not doing this to make S.H.I.E.L.D. happy or to fulfill some delusions about bringing peace. I just want you back," Natasha pleaded.

"It has never been him, Natasha!" Natasha flinched. Only rarely did Clint ever call her by her full name. "I've never been brainwashed! No one has been forcing me to do anything! Ever! The first time, I chose to join him, Natasha! It's not bribery or manipulation. It's just me. Can't you see that?" He didn't want someone else to take the fall for his choices. Only he had chosen to join Loki. He remembered the day on the rooftop as if it was yesterday. S.H.I.E.L.D. had force him to make the choice between Loki and psych exams, but it wasn't as if he didn't want to be on Loki's side.

Natasha started at his words. Clint had always told them that the 'mental recalibration' had worked because he had been brainwashed at the time. Was that not true? No, it had to be true! "He's just making you say that, Clint. This isn't you!" She said with a firm shake of her head. Somewhere deep inside, she knew that Clint, the real Clint, would reject what he was doing right now. This person may have thought he was doing it of his own free will, but his perceptions and thoughts had been changed. Could it be called free will if he wasn't even thinking the way he used to?

"He isn't, Natasha! Why can't you see that I'm doing this because I want to?" He was sick and tired of everyone thinking that he was being brainwashed. It was the cover story, but it wasn't the real story. He was still himself. He looked past Natasha to Loki and tried to send his silent apologies. It was his fault that Natasha had ever gotten this far. It was his duty to prevent Natasha from hurting Loki, but he didn't want to hurt her either! He didn't know what to do at this point. His mind was telling him to let the arrow fly and take out an arm so she wouldn't be able to fire, but his heart was begging him to stop.

His eyes reflected a flurry of emotions as the two parts of him went at each other. They had been silent for a while, but now they were so loud. They were yelling out their opinions and they just wouldn't shut up! His head ached as they continued to battle and his eyes began to glaze over. His hand turned white as he gripped his bow tightly.

Natasha wanted to move forward to comfort him, but she knew the situation was too volatile. If she moved while he was in this state, he might accidentally release the arrow. Her eyes looked back to Loki with pure hatred. He was the one that had caused Clint to be like this. "It's because I know you don't want this Clint. Think, Clint! Remember back to when you saved me from the KGB! You were sent to kill me, but instead you saved my life! You've always hated watching people be oppressed. You would never want to be oppressing people! You go against logic and rules to do what you think is right, not what someone tells you is right!" She pleaded. "Can't you remember Budapest?"

He remembered Budapest. The memories attacked his mind and his breathing raced. He didn't want to remember because it just added that one more thing to his thoughts which were already tumbling around. His mind was in pure chaos as he tried to sort through his thoughts, but he could understand nothing. His heart was beginning to break free from the logic that had held it in chains. He wanted to suppress it, but it wouldn't be tamed.

"Stop it, Natasha!" He yelled. He was too confused. Couldn't he just be given a mission and blindly complete it? Why was she trying to force new elements into his mind? "The fact is, you're still betraying us! I have to kill you!" It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He pulled the string farther back and was about to release when she called out once more.

"You don't want to be with them, Clint! He's confusing you into thinking that I'm the enemy! Loki's the one who is really against you!" Natasha's spare hand twitched. She didn't want to have to use her other semi, but things were deteriorating rapidly. She'd have to move quickly or Clint would kill her.

"She's lying, Barton! She's a seductress. Confusing young men is her specialty! She's your enemy now, so don't doubt that she would use her skills against you! Haven't you always learned that a smart agent is one that uses everything at their disposal? She's trying to make you betray your comrades for her own sake!" Loki shouted from across the room. This wasn't good. He'd have to move quickly to take her out. But for that he would need Barton's help. He knew the man well enough over these past few months to say that he was very loyal to Natasha, but he was also loyal to the organization. Now it was all a question over which one he'd choose.

Clint shook his head, taking a step back. He didn't know if he could choose between the two of them. "I-I can't do it. I just can't hurt you, Nat...But I can't betray Loki either. I can't do this," he said in a broken voice. His eyes were panicked as he shook his head slowly from side to side. His arm quivered for a bit longer before bending ever so slightly at the elbow. Natasha's eyes immediately latched onto the movement. He was lowering his arm. But Loki saw it too.

Loki grabbed his scepter firmly in his hand and whirled it around before pointing it at Natasha. Natasha dropped to the ground and let the blast fly overhead. She gripped the semi-automatic in her hand before pointing it up towards Loki. The two shared a look at each other in the split second they had left. Something in Loki's eyes changed. Instead of motivation, did she see regret or was that... acceptance? She didn't have time to think as her finger wrapped around the trigger, whispering a quiet apology for Clint for what she was about to do.

A loud bang echoed around the room and everyone froze in place. Everyone except for Loki. His eyes widened, and he stood stock still for a moment before slowly falling to the ground, bleeding from his throat. The small bullet had lodged itself into the wall behind him, but it had run right through an exterior artery. From the ground, Loki lifted up a pale hand to the side of his throat and pulled it away to stare at the deep red liquid that coated his. He let out a cracked laugh before choking weakly on his own blood. It seemed as if he would always be the loser after all. And all he had ever wanted was to make other's lives better. First, he wanted to make his father proud and to help his brother, but he had been rejected. Now, he wanted to prevent people from dying arbitrarily in war, but he had been stopped once more.

Natasha took in rasping breathes as she stared wide eyed at the dying man on in front of her, the pool of blood moving closer towards her. She couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her. She had finally done it. She had shot Loki.

**Author's Note: That made me really sad to write. Gosh. I love Loki. But now... Wahhh! Loki, I love you! Forgive me for what I must do! But on that note, the story is almost over now! Next week, three chapters later, it'll be done! Can you believe that the story has come this far? I'm so proud that I've just about finished another story, and I hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as I! **

**Zoey Bluish: I'm so glad that you love it! Hopefully you like this chapter as well. And now, I don't the question is when Clint will not support him, but when Clint will not have the chance to support him. Clint and Nat aren't dating at this point in time, but they have a very close relation with one another. This may or may not change before the end of the story. (; **

**Review and tell me what you think? I really appreciate every one of you for reading this and subscribing! It gives me the fluffies. (: **


	20. A Ton of Regret

God, don't you know that I live with a ton of regret?  
Cause I used to move you in a way  
That you've never known  
**-Break Me Shake Me by Savage Garden**

He was dying now, was he? He breathed in an out as he stared up at the pale white ceiling above him. He had expected this moment to come eventually, but it was still haunting. His body was trying to force a regeneration, but it was being halted by the very weapon he had created. Guns were nearly impossible to load the hell particle into, but it was possible just expensive. It appeared that it wasn't expensive enough. The red particle ate away at his throat as his body tried to regrow. But he was losing too much blood now. It was impossible to remove the particle, so his only option would be death.

His emerald eyes glanced over to where Natasha was crouched down on the ground. He gave a gasping laugh, letting small trickles of blood escape from his mouth. "It wasn't as if this was a surprise. I should have suspected this would happen. You're too loyal. Loyal to Barton, but loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. That was the one thing I didn't account for." He rolled slightly onto his side to help the blood leave his mouth. He was going to die, but there were a few last things he had to say. Loki Laufeyson was not going to die regretting that he didn't get the last word in.

Natasha looked up from the carpeted ground and stared at Loki for a moment. The edges of her mouth pulled into a sad smile. "I didn't want to kill you, you know," she said sadly. It was true. Over the weeks she had come to know Loki as more than just a maniacal god. Even through his cold exterior, he was, in his own way, human. He wished for happiness, for himself and for others, and was willing to go to any lengths to get it. He was like any other person across the nine realms, but the difference was that he had to die.

Loki laughed weakly at her words. "If you hadn't wanted to kill me, then you wouldn't have. Don't say those words arbitrarily to make yourself feel better. It's not as if any of us here believes those petty words anyways." He leaned back onto the now red carpet and blinked his eyes once. Bit of black curled at the edges of his vision, and he knew that his time was almost up. He watched as Natasha got up from the ground and looked over her shoulder to Barton.

His eyes turned sad as he watched her. That simple movement filled him with so much longing. "Love, perhaps it was stronger than I had expected." He shook his head weakly. "Even now, as I die, I cannot understand what it is. It must be something precious if you Midgardians try so hard to protect it. Even now, I wish that could understand what it is. What this feeling called love is like... I have never known, nor will I ever know." A cynical smile made its way onto his face. Everyone had so long expected him to be the demon, and he had played out that part till the very end.

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that." The words made their way to his mind as he lay there, waiting for his own death. He wondered if anyone ever saw him as someone to love. Ah, now he was just being a sentimental fool. He glanced over to Natasha and said, "I have one last request of you."

Natasha tilted her head to the side, begging the question. "Finish me off. I'm getting stupid with the blood loss." His classic smirk made its way back onto his face as he dropped his head back onto the ground.

Natasha started before biting her lip. She reached her hand down to the gun that was still warm from the previous shot. Her fingers laced around the handle as she pulled it out of the holster. The red head walked over to Loki and stood over him. They shared a look with one another. Natasha's eyes conveyed regret whilst Loki's shown with resilient acceptance. Strength in weakness, so they say.

"This is my compassion," Natasha said simply as she pointed the gun towards Loki's head. The god's eyes closed, and Natasha fired. The bullet dug into Loki's brain and soon the Asgardian breathed no more. Natasha's arm drooped by her side as she stared at the now dead man. The semi slipped from her fingers one by one before falling with a soft thud on the ground. Her greatest enemy was now dead. But... She wasn't sure if she felt happy or sad in the end.

She whispered a silent prayer over him before turning away from the body that was slowly dissolving away. Clint was staring in horror at the body on the ground. He had stayed silent throughout the entire exchange though his eyes had never left the slowly expanding pool of blood on the ground. His mind was reeling. Natasha had really shot Loki. Should he be feeling disgust? He didn't know anymore. Everything that he had had crumbled away in front of him in the span of a few minutes.

"Clint." Natasha stepped over towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. She had never been much of an empathizer and didn't know what to do.

"This can't... I won't believe it." Perhaps if he willed it all away, he would find it was just a dream. It would be a place where Natasha wouldn't be doing this and everything was back to normal. It had to just be pre-battle nerves, right?

"Clint, it's not a dream. It's real," said Natasha as pulled him into an awkward hug. Clint shook his head and pushed away.

"No! It's not! It can't be!" The voices in his head were getting progressively louder and louder. They were fighting again. Why couldn't they just shut up and leave him alone? He felt himself being slowly dragged towards insanity as they echoed back and forth in his mind. One told him to kill Natasha for killing Loki, but the other said that he should accept her embrace. One said that he should take revenge for his fallen leader, but the other said that peace shouldn't be found through war.

His bow slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground as he raised both hands up to the sides of his head. He clamped his head tightly as the pressure grew exponentially. It was as if Loki's death had set off a trigger to start a war inside of his head, and it hurt. When Sherman said that War is Hell, he was darn right. Especially when all of the war happened inside of your head.

He dropped to his knees as his vision began to fail. Darkness clouded his eyes as his head exploded with pain. He vaguely heard Natasha calling out his name before a warm hand was placed on his shoulder. His breathing accelerated as she came closer. He felt as if everything was closing in around him, choking him.

Clint shook like a leaf while staring blankly at the ground. Natasha had seen this happen before to one of the trainee S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Clint was having a panic attack. "Dangit, Clint!" Natasha yelled. "Get a hold of yourself! Breathe!"

But Clint couldn't hear her. The voices inside of his head were blocking out any sound from the outside world. His vision had narrowed down to a small circle where he could just see a lock of Natasha's hair. Other than that, he was cut off from the outside world. And no one could tell what was going on inside of his head. He shut his eyes tightly as a wave of nausea hit him.

_Kill her while she's near! She's your enemy now! Stop staying there! You're acting weak, and weak is for those that want to die!_ One of the voices shouted. Clint denied it. He couldn't hurt Natasha. He shook his head violently to clear the voice away. The voice hissed before yelling out, _This isn't over yet! _Then it began to fade away, leaving his mind empty.

Natasha's voice filtered in, and Clint immediately began to breathe in and out. His blonde hair was sweaty and plastered over his forehead. His eyes were wide and dripping with tears. It had finally gone, that voice. He choked on his breath as he tried to calm himself down. Natasha stroked his hair and whispered soothing words into his ears. "It'll be all right, Clint. I promise."

The spell that the scepter had cast on him began to fade, causing a torrent of memories to begin flooding into his mind. His brain began to race once more as his emotions began flooding back into him again. He screamed.

* * *

**Author's Note: This chapter was very sad to write. It killed me to write Loki's death scene. He's such a great character, and I tried to give him a fitting ending. Hopefully you'll all think I did a good job! One chapter left and then I have the epilogue. I can't believe how far this story as come! It'll be one of the very few stories I've ever finished, so I can't wait for it! I appreciate each and every one of my readers, and I want to thank you all so much for your continued support! Love you all!**


	21. Burden of Confusion

I'm being haunted by a vision  
it's like the morning never comes  
I feel the burden of confusion  
always searching... on the run  
**-Somebody Help Me by Full Blown Rose**

For so long he had felt nothing. He made his decisions off of logic. He quantitated life and happiness, shoving aside what didn't weigh enough on his scale. Living was good because he found there were enough reasons to support it being inherently positive. There was nothing that made it instinctively good. He didn't even feel that his own life had much of a purpose then. If he had died, he doubted that he would have cared much.

But then Natasha kept on coming closer to him. He had been confused for a while. There had been things that had been impairing his decisions that were not logic. He had searched his memories to figure out what was going on when he realized that they were feelings. He hadn't felt them in such a long time; he tried to lock them away. He still had a mission to perform, and this would just get in the way. The blockades had gone up, and he had sheltered himself away from the rogue emotions.

But now, the blockades had all crumbled down. It was as if a part of his mind had opened up again, and the torrent of emotions was flooding back into him. If it had opened up slowly, perhaps it wouldn't have hurt so much, but it did not. And it hurt like hell. His hands clung onto the sides of his head as his body whipped through emotions. Pain, it was bad. Surprise, Loki was dead. Fear, what was going on? Horror, what had he done?

The voice that had been weak for so long had burst back into the forefront of his mind. It was the part of him that still felt something. And now it was overcoming him again. It hurt, but he was still trying to fight against it. He couldn't just accept it after dealing without it for so long. But instead, it pulled him into the past, trying to show him why he should give in.

_He slid an arrow into the notch and drew the string tight. It took only a moment for him to look at his target, and he knew that his aim was true. He released the arrow and let it fly towards its target. Clint let a smile creep across his face as he heard the satisfying thunk of the arrow. He snatched another arrow out of his quiver as the sound of chaotic yells met his ears. Looks like they figured out that there was an assassin in their midst. Big whoop. He turned around and fired again. _

Ah, that was right. Before he had known what was right instinctively. It felt good when the string was pulled back at just the right angle. When he looked down his sight, he knew that it would hit the target. He recalled his time in the range where he couldn't hit the bullseye. In his memories, he felt there was a certain happiness when he let the arrow fly that he hadn't known when he fought earlier. Was there something wrong with him?

"_Oh come now, Barton. You're being ridiculous!" Coulson called up from where he stood on the ground. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring at the man crouching on the rafters. "Just because you hate going to the doctors doesn't mean that you have to run like this! They aren't going to kill you!"_

"_How do you know that?" Clint said with a grimace. "And if they can't catch me, they can't hurt me. Didn't you teach me that?" _

"_I taught you that for when assassins were coming after you! Your doctor is something else entirely, Barton. Get down here and get your bird butt over into the hospital unit. Now!" Coulson tapped his foot on the ground impatiently and looked over to the clock. They were already fifteen minutes late._

"_How about no?" Clint laughed at Coulson's irritation and lay down on the rafter. He closed his eyes and ignored the other man's curses. _

Coulson, last he had heard from the man was when he was trying to get him to come back to SHIELD. It seemed so long ago that he had joked around with his handler. They had a good time together, bantering back and forth. When was the last time he had talked to someone like that? All he could remember was business, business, business. There was no time for anything fun or enjoyable. Even if there was, he doubted that he would do anything like that in any case. The Clint of now didn't get the point, but the voice told him that it was good. That he should want to talk with people, and not just about business. But why would he want to do that? He shook his head back and forth. That couldn't be right. Why would he want to do things like that?

The voice yelled angrily at him before bringing up a final memory.

"_Clint, you're being an idiot again."_

"_What? I'm not doing anything!" Clint raised his hands in mock surrender as they strolled down the hallways._

"_I know that you just slipped firecrackers into that man's briefcase. Don't look away from me, Clinton Barton." Natasha twitched her lips up in a smile as they distanced themselves from the agent down the hallway. _

"_But it's funny isn't it?" Clint said cheekily as he counted down the seconds until the crackers went off. A few seconds later, a loud popping was heard and the male agent yelled in fright. Clint sniggered and Natasha slapped him across the back of the head. _

Natasha. He missed her now. Even though she was near him, he missed that he couldn't hold her close and feel the warmth that he used to feel. He clamped his eyes shut and slowly let himself surrender to the voice. He wanted to feel again. The emptiness inside of him was too lonely, too wrong. He wanted to thrive, not just survive.

Natasha looked at Clint worriedly as he thrashed on the ground. She didn't know what was going on. Had Loki's death triggered something in Clint? She let a hand hover near Clint before taking it away as he knocked into it. She was only going to hurt both of them if she neared him now. She bit her lip harshly as he heaved in and out.

She began standing up to try and see if she could find help, but then he exhaled and was still. Natasha immediately dropped down on her knees and shook Clint; he didn't respond. "Clint! Wake up!" She noticed that he wasn't breathing and a part of her began to panic. "Clint! You had better not be dying, you jerk! Get up!" She shook him violently before backing away. What was she supposed to do? Luckily, she didn't have to decide.

Clint gasped for air, and started Natasha out of her panic. It only took her a moment before she grabbed him into her arms and held him tightly. "Dangit, Clint! Stop scaring me like this!" Fighting Loki had been scary, but almost losing Clint was something else entirely. They say that you have to lose something to know how much it is worth. She had just felt what it was like to almost lose someone, and she never ever wanted to feel it again.

"I guess I'm back," Clint choked out as he looked up at Natasha. His voice was raw, but Natasha could tell that there was happiness, real happiness, in his voice. She felt something clench inside of her. Clint was back. _Her_ Clint was back. She didn't say anything, but just held him to her and smiled.

"Well, that took ya long enough." Both of them looked up to see a yellow and red figure standing in the doorway. Tony smiled underneath the mask and waved over his shoulder. Steve walked up behind him and put a hand on Tony's shoulder. His eyes flicked over to where Loki's body was on the ground before looking away.

"It's all over now. Let's head home," said Steve gently.

"Yeah, let's go home." S.H.I.E.L.D. was his home now, and he was going to be there to stay. It was all over.

* * *

**Author's Note: I want to dedicate this chapter to someone I know, knew. She died on the 26****th****. ): She was an amazing lady, and the world will be less without her. **

**On a happier note, OwlMay and I are opening up a tumblr roleplay! It's Avengers and X-Men fandom. Basic plot is: Eight neutron bombs have been detonated over the major capitols of the world, America, China, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, England, and Russia. The governments have been completely wiped out, and the world has been thrown into turmoil. HYDRA, the instigators, have crept into the political sphere and have taken control of these countries. They have declared war on SHIELD and all mutants, blaming them for the attack. Will the Avengers and X-Men put aside their difference to defeat HYDRA?**

**If you want to join the roleplay then PM me, and I'll link you to it. (: There are a bunch of open characters since only May and I are there. **

**Next chapter will be the epilogue. Thank you so much for coming with me on this amazing journey! I sincerely hope you enjoyed Just One Moment!**


	22. Look Through My Eyes

There will be times on this journey  
All you'll see is darkness  
Out there somewhere daylight finds you  
If you keep believing  
**-Look Through My Eyes by Phil Collins**

"It has been awhile." Clint sighed in content as he leaned casually back on the chair. "I've missed being on missions."

"Clearly, it has been too long. How did you get me into this again? We're stuck to freaking chairs, Clint. Don't you begin reminiscing on me now. I'm going to murder you myself if you ramble on about how good it is to be back. You've already done it incessantly since returning!" Natasha exclaimed as she rocked her chair back and forth.

"Oi! Stop that!" Clint shook with Natasha as their chairs were tied together, and it made his head whirl. "You're going to make us-" The chairs fell over to the ground, and Clint swore he could hear a bone crack. He hoped it wasn't one of his. "That was not a good idea."

"I'm the only one here actually trying to escape, so bear with me." Natasha growled from her spot on the ground. She shook her head and reached her fingers back to the rope restraints around her wrists. The small sharpened plates on her nails began the slow process of slicing through the frayed ropes.

Clint sighed from his spot on the ground and said, "Listen, if you wanted to escape, you could have just asked. Couldn't you just take a bit of time to smell the roses?" He reached his fingers up and swatted away Natasha's nails. He then grabbed two sections of the rope and held one parallel before yanking the other strip upwards, a hard feat to do all things considered. The knot slid undone, and Clint pulled his hands out. He rubbed his wrists innocently while looking at Natasha's dumbstruck look. "What?"

"You could have done that the whole freaking time?" She asked with a stunned look on her face. She couldn't believe that they had been sitting there for nearly thirty minutes, and he could have escaped at any time.

"Of course I could have! Just because it was a constrictor knot doesn't mean that it's impossible to undo it. I grew up in the circus, Nat. It was practically my job to undo knots to pack up and ship out. That was nothing compared to what some of the old guys used to do." Clint smiled cheekily and stretched himself out. "Now let's get out of here. We've waited long enough to be fashionably late."

Natasha rubbed her forehead as she got up from the ground. She walked up to Clint and smacked him upside the head before walking to the door. She ignored Clint's indignant squawks as she examined the lock. It was a classic keyhole lock, easy peasy. She took a bobby-pin out from her wrist band, because every female agent knows to keep one around, and stuck it inside the lock before clicking the door open. She looked back at Clint who was peering over her shoulder inquisitively.

She ducked out of his way and slowly twisted open the door. She peeked her head through the door. She signaled the all clear and snuck her way outside. Clint sneaked out after her and shut the door quietly behind him. "Let's get outta here!" He whispered to her as he quick-walked through the halls. Natasha hurried after him before running into him when he suddenly stopped in front of an open doorway.

"The heck, Clint?" She mumbled as she pulled away and looked to the side. Clint's signature bow was dangling from the wall with his quiver beside it. She looked at Clint then back to the bow and said, "Oh heck no. We aren't. You can't be serious?"

Clint smiled in response and crept open to the door and slipped in. Natasha just about screamed as she saw him dash across the armory to grab his weapon off the wall. She opened the door to join him when red lights began flashing. "Clinton Barton!" She yelled in aggravation as she hurried inside and slammed the door shut behind her. She locked the door behind her and rushed over to his side where she pulled two semi-automatics off the wall.

She glared over at Clint who seemed to be satisfied with his handiwork and said, "If they don't kill you, I swear I will kill you myself."

"Of course, Nat. Of course," said Clint amicably, stringing and arrow into his bow. Natasha sighed and cocked her guns.

"You're doing this just to annoy me, aren't you?"

"That's just an added bonus, but it's a great bonus indeed." Clint winked before turning his gaze back towards the door. The sound of pounding against metal was heard and they knew their opponents were coming. The door burst open and men glad in forest green suits began pouring into the small room. Arrows were sent flying before digging deep into their targets. Clint grinned with grim satisfaction. He'd gotten back into his groove again, and he was hitting the dead center once again.

Energy raced through him and everything just felt so right. It felt amazing being back in the fray. Natasha may hate him for it, but he couldn't help grinning like a fool when he fought. It felt so perfect now. Natasha snapped out a fist to catch one of the guards in the head before whirling around and kicking another in the stomach, sending him flying. She twirled a semi in her hand before firing it at another troop that was making his way through the door, effectively blocking off the entrance.

Soon, they had defeated all the enemies in the room and all the new ones were being taken out as they entered. When the last one was gone, Natasha sank down to the ground. "Clint, you're an idiot sometimes."

"That's what I keep hearing," said Clint as he walked over to where Natasha was. He messed up her red hair and spilled his bow back on his back. "Now how about we head on back, eh? I'm sure Fury is throwing a fit right now. Though it's great fun watching Tony suffer under the man, I think Tony will kill us if we take forever."

She looked at him for a moment before smiling. For a while after they had retrieved him, she had worried that nothing would ever go back to normal again. That he would be ever stuck in that funk of his, but now she could see the real Clint again. He was the guy that annoyed the hell out of her twice every ten minutes. He was the guy that was endearingly annoying.

"Mmhmm." Natasha got up from the ground and slipped the guns into her holsters. She moved to exit the room but Clint grabbed her around the wrist and pulled her back. "What do you think you're doi-"

Clint captured her lips in a quick kiss before pulling back and smirking. "So, I heard that you were going to kill me."

Natasha rolled her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. "There's been a change in plans." A smile crept across her face before she said, "Don't you think this could have waited until we at least got out of the room though? Standing in here is hardly romantic you know."

Clint started and looked around before sheepishly saying, "Oops? Well, you know timing has never really been my thing. It's the thought that counts!" He rubbed the back of his head before gingerly making his way outside the room.

She watched him exit the room with a glaze in her eyes. Just one moment, that was all it took. Just a single moment, and she was happy. She was with Clint now, and no one would take him away. Not Fury, not Loki, not anyone. She would always be right there by his side. Because she was the Black Widow, and the Black Widow always finished what she started.

"You coming?" Clint poked his head back inside the room and blinked. Natasha smirked back and waved a hand in the air.

"I'm just taking my time to smell the roses. You're the one who suggested I do so after all. Look who's the one in a hurry now." Natasha slowly made her way over to the doorway and out past Clint who stood there open mouthed.

"That was a low blow, using my words against me. You gotta get used to losing more, Nat. You have way too many snappy comebacks." Clint sauntered alongside her with his hands behind his head.

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, Clint." Natasha smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Yes, this was where she was supposed to be. It had taken a heck of a lot to get here, but that made it all the sweeter. It was finally over.

**Author's Note: And with this, Just One Moment is finished! /throws confetti around/ I want to thank all of you that have stuck with me through this entire journey. I really loved working on this story, and I'm so happy to finally say that I have completed it! I've tortured myself over this to get it all just so, and I've gone back and fixed chapters, ect. It's my little dysfunctional child, so I hope you enjoyed JOM as much as I. (; **

**This is the last time I'll say this here so bear with me, but give me one last review? I want to know your impression of this story. I was pretty darn nervous writing this because I'm an emotions writer. Doing an emotionless character just about killed me. Do you think I did an ok job at it or did I suck? Giving you free license to insult me here! Take it! Say something! xD**

**Well, that's all folks. I hope to see you in some of my other stories! /salutes/ Have a great year!**


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